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I brought Jackson's library book to the school. He forgot it as we rushed out the door. He should have known better. I reminded Wyatt that we don't call our brothers names for what seemed like the millionth time that day. He should have known better. I read about the young teenage boys climbing on the canopy at the park on our neighborhood Facebook page. They should have know better. I heard the news report the second teenage suicide in our area in two weeks. Those boys should have known better.

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

I am a parent but I am also still a child. I've heard "that child should have known better" far too often today. We have lost site that our kids are still kids and we are still their parents regardless if they are four or forty. I am 36 years old (almost 37...gasp) and still need guidance, training if you will, from my parents. God's Word does not give us a time frame as to when all this training stuff comes to an end and our kids truly know better. Training a child, in my opinion, lasts a lifetime; its unending.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

Kids are kids and sometimes they make horrible decisions. I still make bad choices in my adulthood. How can I assume my child knows better every single time he is faced with a challenge? Children are impulsive. They don't think through their actions and don't really realize the consequences of their behavior. That's why God designed the parent-child relationship. I am not saying this gives kids the license to act poorly because they are too young, naive, or incapable of making right choices. What I am saying, is that children need our guidance; they need our training to usher them through life. No where in the Bible does this say our training as parents stops when they turn eighteen.

We are privileged with the responsibility to parent our children. Parenting is one of the most difficult and exhausting jobs on the planet. We are tired; worn down. We also assume that by a certain age their are particular behaviors to expect from our children. When they don't meet those expectations, we give criticism instead of grace. We yell, scold, shake our heads in disbelief crushing their spirits instead of building them up and teaching them right ways to live and manuever in this tricky fast paced world.

Kids boundaries are skewed today. They see outrageous things on YouTube or a post on social media of something risky but cool yet the consequences are rarely shown. It's difficult for our children to make rational decisions when they live in a fantasy world of the irrational through internet searches and endless video games. We must take hold of ourselves as parents and hold onto the fact that parenting is a privilege and we should be so humbled to train these little people to one day run our country successfully.

I think we are overworked, overtired, and over scheduled as parents. We run here, there, and everywhere barely keeping our head above the water. Once our kids pass a milestone we think they don't need to be trained in that area anymore until they wet the bed again. We get frustrated and angry instead of walking alongside our children teaching them how to cope, overcome, and move on to the next stage of life successfully.

My friend's husband once said that one of his biggest mistakes as a parent is assuming his children should know better after being told once. He proceeded to say that he has forgotten that they're only four and six and may need a little more guidance than that. Next time you see a kid acting irresponsibly, throwing a tantrum, saying a curse word, or making a choice that you think they should have known better, remember they're still kids and before you judge: guide, pray, and train them in the way they should go.

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3

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