The Kindness of Parents

SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 19:18 NIV Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

THOUGHT: Today’s thought, and the final one in this series before Valentine’s Day, is about how parents can be kind to their children…or unkind, as the case may be. Sadly, it’s not as simple as giving them a box of chocolates.

I don’t know about you, but this verse leaves me unsettled. What loving parent would be a willing party to their child’s undoing? And yet, I know that as a single Mom in a joint custody world for most of my children’s young lives, I toggled between trying to draw boundaries to help them grow in wisdom and trying to keep them happy rather than create conflict. Being “nice,” as I wrote on Wednesday is about wanting others to see you and like you, but kindness is deeper. It does what is right and good, often quietly and regardless of what others think.

I’m sure this toggling I experienced is not only a single-parent dilemma, and the good news is we never stop being parents, so if the dangers of just being “nice” can frighten us out of complacency or indulgence toward something better, healthier, and kinder for our children, it’s worth it. In this, there is hope.

PRAYER: Oh God, I will never be as perfect as I think I should be, yet you have given me the privilege of parenting. Help me never stop learning and parenting in a way that leads to life for my children.