One of the Best Things You Should Teach Your Children

Diligence ~ Lifeofjoy.meI love it when God gives me a blog post during church services. :) One of the sermons last Sunday was by Alan Taylor and based from 2 Peter chapter one. He especially focused on verses 5 through 10 and spoke on diligence and overcoming discouragement.

Diligence is what stuck with me. As Christians we are to be diligent and add things to our faith. Here are some notes I took:

  • Diligence is the ability to do what you don’t want to do. (Wow, this is so true. It is because I know I’m supposed to do something that I do it, even if I don’t feel like it. I know I need to empty the dishwasher each morning so that I can have it available to fill with dirty dishes throughout the day and thus keep the kitchen clean. But I don’t always feel like emptying it first thing in the morning. )
  • Looking at verse 5, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;” we see that we must start by being diligent and from there we add to it. (Diligence is so important in our lives. It helps us have a good work ethic, have a tidy home, be tidy ourselves, and is really key to having a successful life.)
  • Diligence can be passed on from parents to children! (He really had my attention. I realized how true this was and how in some ways I had done my children a disservice. I realized I needed to share this valuable information with you so that you can diligently teach your children to be diligent. ;) )

Teaching diligence can be done by giving your child chores they are responsible for completing. Now in the beginning it is to teach/train your child how the chore is to be done, so that they can meet the quality requirements for the chore but when possible, do allow for different methods. I say this because when Michael and I got married, one of the things I had to get used to was how he folded towels. I had been taught to fold them in half, half, and then thirds but he didn’t do it that way. His way made for wider piles but more towels could fit in a pile. Neither way was right or wrong. Years later when the children began to help me fold laundry, I decided that was one area I could allow some slackness of my methods because at least things were folded and not wrinkling in a basket.

All that to say, show them how to do it. Instruct them how to do it. Observe them doing it giving pointers as needed. And then let them do it but spot check to ensure quality control. When they don’t follow through with tasks assigned to them, there has to be some consequences because that is how life is. Maybe they have to take on an extra chore they already know how to do or maybe they get docked allowance or cannot have that special treat they like or get a shorter amount of time to play video games. You know your child and what works for them.

The point is to teach your child to be diligent in all they do. I made the mistake of not ensuring that Tiffany got her schoolwork done in a timely manner each day. This led to many years of her struggling with procrastination; whereas if I had been diligent to require that she get her school work done before doing other things, she probably would have had an easier time of it and not struggled so much with procrastination.

Well, I hope my ramblings on this subject spur you to consider how you can help your child develop diligence and if you feel you are lacking a bit, what you can do to be more diligent yourself. I know I have to have routines and make myself do certain things, like get dressed, make my bed, and empty the dishwasher early in my day, so that the day doesn’t get away from me.

If you would like to hear the sermon that inspired this post, go to AlanTaylor.org and select the audio entitled, Diligence Keeps You On the Path to Your Victory, where he gives some tips on how to break out of discouragement too.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

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