Who says little ones can’t be included in new year’s resolutions? If you’re trying to figure out how to tame the beast your toddler has become. Here are a few quick steps:
Fight your guilt. You may feel guilty for the ways you’ve allowed your child to run the show at your house, but you’ll need to do battle with guilt in order to train your child. Guilt is one of the primary reasons why you feel paralyzed and insecure. It has probably crippled you into inaction because of prior mistakes. It may be that you could have done some things differently in training your son or daughter up to now, but your child has a long life ahead. He or she needs you to shake off the dust of shame and develop a plan for teaching them how to obey.
Fight your fears. Similar to guilt, fear causes you to freeze when it’s time to mete out discipline. You’re not only scared of making a mistake, you’re scared of how your child will react. I know it’s all you can do to convince your two-year old to sit still long enough to put on socks, let alone to sit still in time out. Holding small children to standards is scary, but if you don’t do it who will? Since you’re called by God to train your children, you should fear Him rather than them. God will show you how to parent if you trust him. He’s the best dad ever.
Fight your anger. I never knew what a maniac I could be until I had toddlers. I yelled at my kids a lot and it’s pretty much a miracle that they still love me. On the other hand, whenever I lost my mind, I asked for their forgiveness, I sought forgiveness from God, and I asked him to help me mature as a Christian mom. I knew that if I wanted to build strong character in my children, I needed to model kindness and self-control. Not only that, I realized that anger was not going to motivate my children to do as told, so I trained them in good behavior by being consistent and making it fun.
Believe. You probably believe your children are a gift from God, but they don’t always act like gifts. That’s actually where faith comes in. You not only have to believe God entrusted your precious children to you. You also have to believe you are a gift to them. Believe God to give you confidence and peace. Believe God will use you to help your children become all he intends for them to be. Believe that if you start training this month, your child will have developed some new habits by December. What’s your option? Believing your child is hopeless before he’s even gone to kindergarten?
I believe in you, Mom! Better yet, your toddler believes in you. They don’t know how to articulate it, but this is what they would say if they could:
“Mommy, I love you so much and I thank God for you! I want to do what is right and I feel good when you are proud of me. Please keep trying to help me obey you. Please don’t give up on teaching me self-control. Deep down, I feel guilty. Deep down, I am afraid just like you. I hate it when I throw fits and make you angry. I am sorry even if I never say so. Thank you for setting new goals for me in 2016 .”
Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life. Proverbs. 22.6 (GNT)
Purchase the parenting booklet More than Potty Trained here.
Mary Butler Coleman 
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