7 Mom Moments: Practical Parenting Help for Everyday Situations Moms FaceSample

When You Don’t What to Do

I (Emily) had pretty much exhausted all my usual strategies when I came to my husband and said, “I’m just out of ideas for how to handle this behavior. What should I do?”

(I was listening intently for a magic bullet that I hadn’t thought of yet. I really wanted a three-step solution to correct the heart attitude of our preschooler.)

“Well, have you tried praying with him? Let him see that you are both dependent on the Lord for a change.”

All at once, relief and frustration flooded over me. One part of my mind scolded the suggestion, “Prayer?! How is that going to help when I’m at the end of my rope? I need something practical I can implement!”

But the deepest part of my heart relented, “Yes. Prayer. Because I don’t have the answers, I can’t change my son’s heart, and I want to model deep dependence on God for help and solutions. God will give wisdom. He will meet me there.”

How often do we feel this way? We parent our little ones, day in and day out, growing disillusioned with all the foolproof discipline strategies promised to us on the internet and in books. We put our hope in the methods alone, thinking that if we just do enough research or execute it more perfectly, then maybe we can finally have control over our children. While God works in and through a myriad of parenting strategies, and they are good to research and implement, we mustn’t forget the cross.

If our children came with a handbook, a set of easy-to-do strategies, we wouldn’t need God. We would quickly depend on our own efforts and tell our children to do the same.

We—mothers and children—are both leveled at the cross.

Both dependent.

Both needy.

Both desperate to be rescued, guided, and loved.

And in the absence of a perfect “this is how we are going to move forward” plan, we can at least show our children whom we look to and depend on for help. We can pray.