Gentle Discipline

There are so many aspects of parenting and, of course, discipline comes up fairly quickly. People ask if your baby is a 'good' baby. Of course, Elisabeth is such an easy baby that I get asked if she cries! *Note, yes, she does cry, like all babies--when she needs something, and I haven't noticed or answered her body language signals. But note, I said "easy" not good. I get irked because babies are not bad. Difficult or high needs, yes. But bad, no, I would never label a baby or even a child, 'bad'. Children will fulfill the expectations they hear spoken of them. I backtalked because anytime I talked and my mom didn't want to hear me speak, I was backtalking, so I figured (and I remember thinking this) if I'm gonna get in trouble for backtalking, I might as well be sassy when I talked.

So anyway, I've been discussing Gentle Discipline with my parents. My dad didn't want to spank us, and my mom did, she still thinks she's right even tho' she and I don't get along the greatest. I was reading the Graceful Parenting blog, and the thought struck me, (er, pun not intended), "I could never see Jesus spanking a child." And I am sure that He had opportunities to see His siblings' children and other kids act up and had times where He may have corrected them, but I can't imagine Him saying "You need a good spanking " or, "I'll give you something to cry about." Instead, He does not say you should beat a child, but He blesses them.(Mark 10:13-16) One of the things I like most is that when the disciples try to keep the children away from Jesus, He gets indignant! And He says cursed are those who cause a child to sin.(Matthew 18:1-6) Woooo, that's a little heavy. How do adults cause children to sin? Hmm, good question, what would you say? Please answer if you have any thoughts.