refuse to respond at once, they are not obeying. Submission to
authority means that they obey without delay, excuse, or challenge.
(^) It is easy to think unclearly about obedience. When you say to
your child, “Dear, I want you to go to bed now,” there is only one
appropriate response. It is not, “I’ll go after I finish coloring this
page.” It is not, “Why do I always have to go to bed so early?” It is
not to ignore you entirely.
(^) There is only one obedient response. It is to go to bed without
delay. If you accept any other response, you are training your children
to disobey.
(^) Remember what is at stake; that it go well with your children and
that they enjoy a long life. They must honor and obey.
Call for Consistency
(^) The serious parent must be prepared to swim upstream, as our
culture has lost any semblance of submission to authority. You must
be consistent. You must train your children to obey through careful
discipline and precise instruction. The rules have to be the same each
day.
(^) If they must obey, you must challenge disobedience and persevere
until the lessons of submission are learned. Victory does not come to
the faint of heart. You will rarely witness resolute will power such as
you find in a toddler who has determined not to obey.
(^) Clear directives and thorough reinforcement are essential. Never
allow your children to disobey without dealing with them. When they
disobey, they are moving out of the circle of God’s blessing into a
place of grave peril. If you understand the fear of the Lord, you will
not allow your child to ignore God’s law without intervening. Your
intervention is turning him back into the circle of blessing.
(^) Some parents argue, “It is a glory to overlook an offense,” as a
justification for allowing some disobedience. They do not understand
the issue. Obedience to parents is not a parent-child issue. If it were,