Day 3: The Golden Rule

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Days 1 and 2 seem easy compared to this. But if we truly want to lead our kids toward Jesus, what could be more important than teaching them what he described as the greatest commandments? Loving God and loving others as ourselves.

Never in my life have I been more challenged by the Golden Rule than when I was parenting a toddler. I can be a control freak and I desperately wanted to try to control her every action- which in hindsight is downright silly at an age where she should be exploring, trying things out and growing in independence. Not to mention that I wouldn't want someone else to try to control me - that would be a nightmare.

So, by definition of the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you), I needed to let go of my desire to control her. To guide her? Yes. To teach her? Absolutely. But to control her? No, not that. One of the most helpful things to remember as I let go of this was that I want her to be a good decisionmaker, and letting go of some control so she can learn to make wise decisions on her own is a part of that process.

I love these words on it by Dr. Laura Markham of Aha Parenting: http://www.ahaparenting.com/ages-stages/toddlers/toddlers-terrific-twos

Day 3: The Golden Rule. The hardest day yet, but perhaps the most impactful to my daughter when I chose not to yell, snap or attempt to control her when she was running late for school. And the amazing thing? When I gave the responsibility to her (instead of nagging and forcing her to speed up), she actually made up time and was perfectly ready for preschool two minutes early. It would have been worth it to be late to treat her with respect and dignity and the Golden Rule (and I think being late once could have helped teach her the importance of getting ready on time) but it was a nice bonus that everything worked out and very cool for her to experience taking responsibility and meeting a goal on her own.

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