Monday, March 12, 2007
Developing a Conscience
Developing the mind is important, but developing a conscience is the most precious gift parents can give their children. Children will find favor, good understanding and high esteem because it makes them aware of right/wrong; fairness; have the appetite of the diligent and they are abundantly supplied with quick thought-provoking resources, and their thoughts are those tending only to achievement. They already stand rooted and grounded in the love their parents give them. Teaching them to be sharp with their conscience, alert, red flags go off when they are making wrong choices, paying attention to authority, builds strong character traits. Dwell in peace today and have patience with these "priceless treasures." Feelings of worth and teaching a clear and sharp conscience can flourish only in an atmostphere where individual child differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. I believe I would have been swept away with every negative behavior and no thought of consequence (conscience) if it had not been for one thing; the remembrance of the time when my Sainted Mother used to make me kneel by her side, taking my little hands in hers, and caused me to repeat the Lord's prayer.
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4 comments:
This is very wise & insiteful! I pray I did a good job with my kids. We are affecting a future generation & the way the world is headed, we need all the conscience we can get!
Funny that you would write that. We were just talking about that a few days ago.
I specifically remember with my youngest one, who by the way was and still is very challenging...
Sometimes I was not so sure if I was doing the right thing. but for some reason it was very important to me that he would not loose his conscience. Even though he was pushing ALL of my buttons all the time. And I defiantly did not always react the way I wanted too. At night when he went to sleep I would always talk to him about his white shirt with God....and how he needed to keep it white before he went to sleep. And that all of the things he did during the day would make that beautiful shirt dirty. And of course nobody wants to go to bed with a dirty shirt. I always thought this way not only would he he ask God for forgiveness each night, he would also think about all the things that happened during the day. (conscience)
I just wanted to make sure that whatever he would do in his life he would not loose remorse (conscience), because when a heart gets cold it takes a LOT of sun to warm it back up.
I loved what you commented about Ritta, that is a great way to finish out the day. I find my kids respond well to analogies too. We have this little thing going and it has been for a while now, whenever my older ones are listening to music or watching movies/TV I always ask them if they think what they are doing is feeding the "white" dog or the "black" dog (representing good vs. evil; right or wrong). I tell them because whichever dog you feed the most will become the strongest. It seems to work because I have heard them ask each other the same question which thrills me that they are now even holding each other accountible.
Mainly though I believe what helps our children develop a good conscience and discernment between right and wrong is modeling of the right behavior from parents.
I love the saying, "sometimes what you do is so loud I can't hear what you say"! I have to remind myself of this all the time.
God help us as we try to instill in our children(and grandchildren for you Gma's) Your Word and a listening ear for You as we continually learn to hear your voice better ourselves!
Oh my gosh! I worry about this with my kids. They don't always make the best choices and I wonder if it is something that I have failed at? I know we learn far better from our mistakes but the consequences can last a long time such as damaging their reputation. Oh when did this all get so hard? What happened to the days when all you had to do was love them, clean them and feed them?
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