Discipline

I am working on getting a schedule down to start walking and or hiking on a regular basis.  I started this last week and it went somewhat well.  I am sure it will go a bit better once the weather cools down.  While I was on one of my walks I was thinking about my schedule and how I will make sure that I schedule my walks in during the week.  It is called discipline.

I used to jog on a regular basis before my knees started giving me problems.  People would ask me why do you jog and I would reply because it is Tuesday.  That is called discipline.

I teach tae kwon do 2 nights a week.  That is called discipline.

I go to work when I am scheduled that is called discipline.

When we were raising Ryan and Dennis we had a schedule and discipline.  Keeping on the schedule and doing it whether you feel like it or not is called discipline.  The younger your children learn it the better and more successful their life will be. 

Learning is a discipline.  When Ryan was 3 years old I would take out little index cards and put Bible verses on them and have him repeat them to me 3 times, after he was done repeating the verse 3 times he got a sticker.  He did it because it was time to do his Bible verse, not because he felt like doing it, not because I felt like doing it, but because it was time to do his Bible verse.

The same concept is used for church.  We go to church because it is Sunday morning.  We do our devotions because it is devotion time.  We make our beds because that is what we do after we get up in the morning.  We brush our teeth because that is what we do before we get dressed .........

I have observed many parents have lost the concept of discipline.  It is not super hard, it just takes making a schedule and you the parent being consistent about it.  The rewards for you and your children will be numerous if you do it right.  Schedule, consistency and rewards when it is all said and done will be a great gift to give your children.

I have found if you don't schedule something it probably won't happen.  A schedule gives a child security in knowing what is coming next.  We had a pretty consistent schedule when the kids were young.  When we lived in Chicago we lived in an apartment complex that had a swimming pool.  In the summer time I would have dinner on the table when my husband got home from work.  The kids and I had our swimsuits on while we ate.  As soon as dinner was over my husband would change into his swimsuit while the kids and I would clean the dinner mess and off we would go to the pool.  I scheduled in our pool and family time. 

When we would go grocery shopping every Wednesday I would give the boys a little pep talk in the car in the parking lot; I would remind them we were Kennedy's and all Kennedy's behaved well in the grocery store.  I would go up and down the aisles and have the kids get certain items for me.  I even taught them to look for the date on the milk.  When we were all done and checking out in the grocery line I would pick out 3 candy bars.  We would get home unload the groceries, put the groceries away and I would fix lunch; after we ate lunch we each got a candy bar. 

Teaching a child discipline at a young age using a schedule, being consistent and giving rewards will make your life easier, and will give your child a good start to real life. 

Proverbs 12:24 Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.