ME-CENTERED CHILDREN

There are two things I think of when I see a child, big or little, consistently being a brat and/or very me-centered: The parents and public education.

I have noticed the kids today think they should have no responsibility and get everything they want and that life is just to have fun, fun, fun. And, actually, I see a lot of adults with the same characteristics.

Now, we all get caught up in this type of thinking to some degree.

But I’m talking about those that this type of thinking controls their whole being.

Some of these kids don’t have any sense of right or wrong. There’s seems to be no conscience.

I believe the whole public educational system sets kids up for this. The atmosphere is thick with me-ism.

But it is the parents who are ultimately responsible for this attitude.

It starts when they are small. We just can’t bear to discipline little Johnny or Susie. They are so little and well……so cute.

We in the Christian home-education movement are sometimes good (or should I say bad) at pointing the finger at these “undisciplined” public-schooled children. But I see some of us falling into the same trap. The trap of not correcting our children, not letting them know that the world does not revolve around them.

We are blinded by the sheer fact that since they are at home with us 24 hours a day, we think they will automatically grow into good kids.

There is the example factor that we are to be setting in the home, but kids need to be corrected and trained.

Since mankind is born with a sin nature, that means little ones are going to be acting out of that sin nature. Which means they are thinking of themselves and themselves only.

A parent can train this out of a child. It will take a while but it’s worth it.

Even when they are babies, or toddlers or 3, 4, 5, on and on.

A child must suffer consequences when they do wrong.

I think that parents can be blind to their children’s discipline problems.

Sometimes we don’t see the child acting wrongly or we ignore it.

I also think that a parent may not know that he/she can discipline and train very little children.

When we let our little ones have their own way, we are not doing them a favor. We are encouraging them to be selfish, immature, adults.

A child may develop such a me-centered attitude that they will justify hurting another child or lying about that other child to get what they want.

I have watched little ones trying to get their way by lying to a parent about the other child, or hitting that child, or whining that he/she is being mistreated, when all the while it is him/her that is in the wrong.

And the parent has no clue, and to be honest I didn’t have the courage to say anything because it is a continuing problem and the parent refuses to see it or refuses to do anything about it.

I have also witnessed older siblings of a child cover for his/her wrong doing, which is just pitiful.

That says to me that the older child has a deceit and lying problem that never got detected by the parents.

When a little one puts his/her hands on his/her hips and has an attitude about what you told them to do or hits a parent or an older sibling for not getting what they want, it’s time for discipline.

We have to be vigilant in our child rearing. We have to be constantly on the look out for these problems that can develop in our children and we have to watch our own attitude toward our children:

Do we want to hide their problems or do we want to root them out.

We don’t do the child, ourselves, or society any favor by letting a child consistently get away with his/her self-centered wrong behavior.

The Bible strongly stresses the importance of discipline; it is something we must all have in order to be productive people, and it is much more easily learned when we are young. Children who are not disciplined often grow up rebellious, have no respect for authority, and as a result find it difficult to willingly obey and follow God. God Himself uses discipline to correct us and lead us down the right path and to encourage repentance for our wrong actions (Psalm 94:12, Proverbs 1:7, 6:23, 12:1, 13:1, 15:5, Isaiah 38:16, Hebrews 12:9)

“The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother”( Proverbs 29:15 )

“Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto they soul” (Proverbs 29:17)

"He who withholds correction hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly." (Proverbs 13:24