I’ve noticed that so much parenting advice focuses on obedience and how to get children to act and do what we parents want.
But, the truth is, most parents don’t really want blind obedience.
What they really want is for their kids to cooperate out of love and respect.
God wants the same from us, doesn’t He?
He gave us free will so that we could choose to love and follow Him.
He asks for our cooperation out of love for Him,
not for our blind obedience.
And, isn’t that ideally what we would have in our homes?
Cooperation out of love for us?
I think so, yes.
So, how do we facilitate that cooperation?
Connection.
A connected child is a cooperative child.
Connection is how our Lord facilitated and continues to facilitate cooperation.
Jesus connected with people first -
He fed the hungry,
healed the sick,
forgave the sinner.
Then He invited them to cooperate and to come and follow Him.
The connection preceded the invitation to be a disciple.
To this day, our Lord invites us in -
He gives us the sacraments to draw us closer to Him,
He gives us prayer to draw us closer to Him,
He gives us His mother and the Saints to draw us closer to Him.
From there we are invited to cooperate in seeking and doing His will, which we happily do when we feel the close connectedness with Him.
And this is how we promote cooperation in our homes, too.
It is unreasonable for us to expect a child to happily clean their room when we’ve been barking orders at them all day.
It is unreasonable for us to expect our kiddos to get ready to go when we ask when we’ve been distracted and unavailable all morning.
It’s unreasonable for us to expect our kiddos to cheerfully help us care for the pets when we’ve been giving exasperated sighs every time they’ve made a request today.
We are all more willing to cooperate when we feel connected,
loved,
and respected.
Kids are no exception.
Making the effort to connect and reconnect throughout the day,
taking time to ask about an interest,
tenderly noticing a frustration,
engaging in play,
hugging….
these are all ways we can connect with our kiddos and nurture their hearts.
And, when our kiddos feel our kind care,
our earnest listening,
and our genuine respect for them,
they will feel more cooperative.
Because a connected child is a cooperative child.
May Christ’s Peace be with you.
💕🙏💕
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