Here are some ways you can respond to your children out of your good and noble heart...even when your patience is being tested. The suggestions come from a book called, Unconditional Parenting, by Alfie Kohn, a leader in the education and parenting fields:
"Be reflective:" Most of us find ourselves on auto pilot, simply reacting to our children, like firing at the metal parade of ducks at the carnival tent, squeezing the trigger as each duck comes into our scope: ping...ping... pang. We simply fire away rather than first reflecting upon our response. As Kohn says, "...control tends to be favored over connection."
"Keep your eye on the long-term goals:" There is a great body of research out there that says that the carrot and stick [reward and punishment] pressure tactics of shaping kids actually backfires in the long run. Pressuring kids through reward or punishment offers them external incentives only, like grabbing a young plant by its leaves and pulling upwards forcefully in order to get it to grow, or telling the plant you'll water it only if it meets your expectations. It doesn't help kids to want to be respectful or kind. And we want them to want to walk nobly.
"Put the relationship first." It's too easy for us to sacrifice the relationship for short-term compliance...just getting kids to be obedient little soldiers; or for our own need for peace and quiet. Are kids really 'better seen and not heard?'
"Attribute to them the best possible motives consistent with the facts." If little Tommy hauls off and wacks his brother's head with a stone, it's safe to say his motive probably wasn't noble. But there are many times we assume our kids are just trying to tick us off, that their actions are intentionally rebellious. When we do this, we often misread their hearts and attribute ill-will where there was none.
"Don't stick your no's in unnecessarily." Try counting the number of times you tell your child 'no' in any given day. When it's not a genuine safety issue, we must ask ourselves if we're shutting something down unnecessarily: "We sometimes refuse to allow a child to do something just because it's inconvenient for us" says Kohn.
"Don't be rigid." "A foolish consistency is the hallmark of ineffective parenting." [partially attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson] There are often times when we parents can demonstrate compromise and humility, so that children experience a gracious authority that puts their heart first.
As Charles Spurgeon once said,
“What position is nobler than that of a spiritual father who claims no authority and yet is universally esteemed, whose word is given only as tender advice, but is allowed to operate with the force of law? Consulting the wishes of others he finds that they are glad to defer to him. Lovingly firm and graciously gentle, he is the chief of all because he is the servant of all.”