Ephesians 6:9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
Is it just me, or do I have a tendency to instantly translate this to me and my children? Come on - tell the truth. There is something in this that I try very hard to apply to everybody - no matter who I am interacting with. It could be a co-worker, a boss, my wife, a child or a youth...
The bottom line is that I don't make any threat that I am not able to follow through on.
For instance, yesterday, the boys did a shooting drill and lost one of the game balls. I've lost about five game balls. But this time it is just unforgivable. We are in a totally fenced in area! Where could it have gone? So - if they couldn't locate the ball, we were going to run. And run we did.
How about closer to home? What about those children? If I say I'm going to take away something from them, I need to be able to follow through. So, I'm not going to take away screen time when I know they are going to be at a friend's house. And I won't use the birthday party as the threat because it not only punishes your kid, but also the person trying to celebrate a special day.
Instead, I delay that punishment until I have them under my jurisdiction. So - I can take away the screen time leading up to a slumber party and after the slumber party. Or I can make a financial dent in their pocket book. Or I can get some yard work done or house work done to "work off" the infraction.
So again, when building a team - whether at work, home, or on the play field, you have to be consistent. You can't treat your favorite player one way (or your "good kid") and then treat your least favorite player another.
No comments:
Post a Comment