Train Up a Child: Part 1

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I've been mulling this post over and over for...well...years now.  There are several parts to it and I've been trying to find the right way in which to address them.  Let me go back to when I bought my puppy a few years ago.  (I know this seems irrelevant, but stay with me!  It'll make sense!)

I don't often post pictures of myself on here, but I love this one!
Me and Ellie meeting for the first time.  :)

I wanted to get a dog well before having children so I could have her properly trained before the babies started arriving.  I got her at the beginning of the summer after my first year of teaching and spent the entire summer working with her.  She was SO well trained!  Not only did we train her to do the "normal" things (potty outside, sit on command, come when called), we trained her to do all sorts of other things as well.  She would ring a bell when she needed to go out.  She would sit until released...not just a couple of seconds.  She wouldn't jump (not normal for a spunky little sheltie).  She could sit, lay down, "possum" (play dead), play peek-a-boo, and any number of other fun tricks.  She would sit and look at a plate full of meat (or a plate with some leftover scraps of meat from our dinner...all the same to her!) and not even touch it until she was told it was okay.  She was (and still is) a well trained dog.  

Ellie playing peek-a-boo

Ellie dancing

It took a lot of time and work and treats along the way, but wow, it was worth it!  She's not perfect now...she's lost some of her obedience since I've had two children and haven't been able to work with her as much, but she's still well-loved and a puppy we like to have around because she's obedient and, in general, minds her manners.  

Sharing with H.

Skip ahead to my second year of teaching.  It was a challenging year.  I had a class that was...well...difficult, to say the least.  The standing procedure at the school was that when certain things happened in class, the consequence was walking so many laps at recess.  Pretty standard.  Well, the laps were supposed to be walked without talking.  When a student chit-chatted while walking their laps, they were required to do them again.  The point was for it to help them remember to not talk during class...if they were talking during the consequence, it did no good.  Most of the students totally understood this and had no problem with it.  But a few of them didn't think it was fair.  And neither did their parents.  I received an email from one mom in particular telling me that this just was not acceptable.  

"Asking the students to be outside near all those kids at recess and expect them not to talk was like dangling meat in front of a dog and expecting them to not eat it!"  

Ellie wait...

Hmmm...I heard this shortly after training Ellie to sit nicely and wait for the release words before eating the meat in front of her.  In fact, by this time, we'd trained Ellie to sit while we put a treat on her nose and then wait until released to pop the treat into the air and catch it in her mouth.  

Waiting patiently.  

So what was this mom telling me?  She didn't want her 11 year old child as well behaved as my 6 month old puppy?  No.  She didn't like the behavior either.  It was the training that bothered her.  She didn't want her child to have to go through the training.

And so here we are...
2 Timothy 3:1-5  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  

Have you seen examples of parents not wanting to train their children?  I'd invite you to share in the comments below.  Join me tomorrow for part 2...

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