A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.
Proverbs 29:11
This is me disciplining on a good day:
“Please remember: we don’t stand on tables.”
And here’s me disciplining on a bad day:
“GET OFF THE TABLE!!! I’ve told you a hundred times to use the furniture properly! I’m sick and tired of telling you this over and over and over again, and if you keep it up, there won’t BE any tables left in this house for you to climb on because I’ll get rid of ALL of them!”
“GET OFF THE TABLE!!! I’ve told you a hundred times to use the furniture properly! I’m sick and tired of telling you this over and over and over again, and if you keep it up, there won’t BE any tables left in this house for you to climb on because I’ll get rid of ALL of them!”
Ugh . . . I’m never proud of those moments! But we’ve all been there, and can probably agree that rather than training our children to stop standing on the table, we’ve actually just trained them to respond to us in kind!
Perhaps that’s why the Bible says this kind of emotional venting is foolish: the fruit it produces is not the type we want to bear!
Dear LORD, help me set a guard over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips (Psalm 141:3). Help me exercise self control and restraint when I’m tempted to “vent all my feelings” at my children. Give me words filled with wisdom to correct what needs correction without inserting my own wild emotions. Help me teach my children good patterns of speech by how I speak to them. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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