Do you really want to say that to your child?

Right now I’m sitting in an almost empty coffee shop section of a huge church in San Antonio. I’m alone except for a mother, grandfather and a child of about 8 years old seated at a table about 20 feet away. The child has an iPad as a babysitter while Mom and Grandpa stare into the empty cavernous foyer.

Occasionally Mom tries to get her son to do something other than play the iPad game and he bursts out, “I don’t want to do that. Leave me alone.”

Mom quickly obeys and grandpa just quietly minds his own business.

But then the little guy started into a screaming rant about the game that left mom helplessly watching and grandpa decided it was time to step in and exercise his authority. “Shhh. We’re in church.”

Remember, we are in a huge, empty foyer – more like a Starbucks than a church. I don’t think they even know I’m here. No one is in sight in any direction. No one is being disturbed by his noise, except mom and grandpa. And grandpa blames the need to be quiet upon being “in church”.

Should that bother me? It does. In fact it really irritates me and here’s why.

I’ve seen so many parents say and do things that baffled me. I just wanted to ask them, “Do you realize what you just communicated to your child?”

“Shhhh, you’re in church,” says the problem here is the church.

Little Rebel just heard, “I’m not the problem. Mom is not the problem. Grandpa is not the problem. The problem here is church. Church is a place you get in trouble for no reason at all. Me – good. Mom – good. Grandpa – good. Church – bad.”

But the problem is not that they are “in church” – because they aren’t. The problem is Mom doesn’t know how to love her son enough to endure the grief of confronting his self-will and helping him learn self-control. And who do you suppose she learned her poor parenting skills from? Instead of stepping in and telling the child to quiet down because civilized 8 year olds don’t throw a fit when they lose a game, grandpa blames the problem on the fact that “we are in church.”

Additionally, Grandpa just said church is a place you have to put on a mask – be fake. Outside church you can be a real horse’s patoot – scream and yell like a banshee when things don’t go your way – and it’s OK. But “in church” I have to be different. I have to “act” different.

Grandpa, the problem is not that we “are in church”. The problem is not even with little Rebel. He is just doing what undisciplined children, who are in bondage to their own will, do. The problem is:
1. You didn’t train your daughter to discipline her child. And worse than that …
2. Just now you were not willing to risk your grandson’s disapproval. So instead of assuming responsibility for being the one expecting him to behave in a manner befitting an eight year old, you shifted the blame.

Does this make sense or do I sound like a ranting 8 year old? The saddest part is that, as this example illustrates, bad parenting can pass from generation to generation. If, like this mom, you didn’t have the best example of parenting, let me commend you for taking steps to break the cycle. You and your children can enjoy the blessing that comes from following God’s child training principles.

Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives.
– Proverbs 19:18