A Lesson in the Pain of the Fall

Disclaimer: This post is based on our parenting style. I am prefacing this because if you do not agree with our parenting style you may be very offended by the post I am going to write so I want to warn you ahead of time. Nathan and I have practiced "Baby Wise" and found it to work great. Maddy went straight on a schedule and is a great sleeper. The idea of training your children from a young age in habits that they will use in later life made sense to us. Since we are both teachers we have seen our fair share of kids that get whatever they want and are pains whenever they come to our classroom. When Maddy cries at night we wait and let her cry a bit before going in so she will learn to comfort herself. Nowadays when I go in to comfort her it actually makes things worse. The crying that was just little sobs ends up being shouts of rage since I am there and not planning on holding her for the rest of the day. However, when she awakes from these naps she always looks at me with a smile, never holding a grudge. We also believe in popping a hand when it touches the wrong thing and eventually, when the age is right, using spanking as a consequence for disobedience. Already my child has shown signs of being born of a sinful nature and though I love her to death I am reminded of the importance of discipline daily. Now here begins my entry:

I started Maddy drinking water from a sippy cup once she started solids. Granted, she wasn't very good at the sippy but over the past two months she has gotten much better. About a month ago I decided to put Madeline on a cup for one meal. I put some of my milk in a cup and then she drinks it with her meal. The first few times she wasn't interested but then she got pretty good at it. Then she went through a phase where she would refuse anything except me. (Here's where my parenting comes in.) To avoid bad habits I decided that I am not going to just let Madeline drink whenever and whatever she pleases. She needs to start drinking from a cup so even if she cries or refuses I still make her drink the milk from a cup. The reason being because I know for a fact she is more than capable to drink from a cup. She does it everyday so I know this is just a preference that if catered to too long could lead to me nursing forever and that is not what we want. So early this week she was doing great with the cup then she hit a spot yesterday where she just cried and yelled but she drank it anyway. Today was one of those days.

I was feeding her her green beans and carrots and a cup of milk when she decided she didn't want to drink and pursed her lips to refuse the cup. When I gave it to her anyway she started to cry. I continued and then she decided she wanted to play a game with mommy. I have recently been playing this game where I give her a spoon to play with while I'm feeding her. I would give her the spoon and put the end in my mouth and then she'd grab it, giggle, and then try to put it in my mouth to "feed mommy". She really likes it. So I am in the middle of trying to get her to drink this milk, she refuses, and then she picks up her spoon and pushes it to my mouth with a big grin. That is when the lesson hit. The lesson in the pain of the fall. I wanted to play with her but I felt that since she has been disobedient to play would only make her think that refusal is ok. I didn't want to give that message so I shook my head and told her no. I wasn't expecting it to be so painful though. She was fine and went on playing with her spoon and eating but it hit me. That is what it's like. That is the feeling my Father gets when he watches me continue to disobey and then try to act like nothing has happened. That is what it feels like when communion is broken because I've done something foolish. Granted, there is forgiveness, which I am grateful for and I know this break in communion has been taken care of once and for all but everytime I mess up I do feel that pain like I have done something that can't be mended. I don't expect Madeline to realize her wrong and repent, she's only 9 1/2 months. However, it was a good lesson for me of the pain He feels when He loves me so much but I do something stupid and then he has to punish me but He also feels it too. Wow! Lessons from a baby.