![\"Child](\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133756\/SchoolLunch.jpg\")
I think one of the most difficult concepts for kids to get their arms around is the concept of “tomorrow.”\u00a0 I don’t mean that kids struggle in understanding that Friday follows Thursday, but they do seem to struggle in understanding that today’s choices affect tomorrow’s outcomes.<\/p>\n
Night Guy vs. Morning Guy “I never get enough sleep.\u00a0 I stay up late at night, ’cause I\u2019m Night Guy.\u00a0 Night Guy wants to stay up late. What about getting up after five hours sleep?\u00a0 Oh, that\u2019s Morning Guy\u2019s problem.\u00a0 That\u2019s not my problem, I\u2019m Night Guy.\u00a0 I stay up as late as I want.”\u00a0 So you get up in the morning, you\u2019re exhausted, groggy…”Oooh, I hate that Night Guy!”\u00a0 And there\u2019s nothing Morning Guy can do.\u00a0 The only thing Morning Guy can do is try and oversleep often enough so that Day Guy loses his job and Night Guy has no money to go out anymore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Whether he realized it or not, Seinfeld was actually hitting on a biblical concept. It’s called “The Law of the Harvest.”\u00a0 Choices have consequences, and you reap what you sow.<\/p>\n I’m not sure why kids struggle with this concept.\u00a0 Maybe it’s because their track record with the concept is shorter than that of adults.\u00a0 Maybe it’s because their parents have sometimes shielded them from experiencing consequences of their choices.\u00a0 Or maybe it’s because kids, like Night Guy and the rest of us, tend to place greater value on the pleasures of the moment than the benefits of wise choices.<\/p>\n It’s a parent’s job to help kids understand that the people they turn out to be tomorrow depends a great deal on the kinds of choices they make today.\u00a0 But how does a parent do that?\u00a0 How do you help kids gain a practical understanding of this concept, and how do you help them turn that understanding into life habits?<\/p>\n It starts with the Scriptures.\u00a0I believe there are two passages of Scripture that are critical for kids to understand.<\/p>\n <\/strong>Proverbs 13:15 says, “…the way of transgressors is hard.”\u00a0 That means life becomes difficult for those who make wrong choices.\u00a0 When we live foolishly, we can expect to face consequences that will make our lives tougher.\u00a0 For examples of this, you don’t need to look any further than your local newscast.\u00a0 People break the law and they’re arrested.\u00a0 People ignore traffic regulations and they get into accidents.<\/p>\n Parents need to help their kids not only to understand but also to experience this concept.\u00a0 If your 5th grade daughter sleeps in and doesn’t have time to comb her hair before going to school, it’s all right to let her experience some embarrassment from going through a school day with bed head.\u00a0 If your 5-year-old son plays more roughly with his favorite toy than he should, it okay to let him experience the disappointment of a throwing his broken toy in the trash.\u00a0 And when your children disobey, they need to experience disciplinary consequences.\u00a0 Proverbs 13:24\u00a0 says, “He who loves his son is careful to discipline him.”<\/p>\n <\/strong>The second passage that is critical for kids to understand is John 13:17.\u00a0 Near the conclusion of His earthly ministry, Jesus washes the feet of His disciples, and He tells them, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. ”\u00a0 After spending three years pouring His life into the disciples, Jesus provides these men with one final picture of sacrificial service, and He tells them that they will be blessed if they follow His model.\u00a0 The principle here is that doing things God’s way brings blessing.<\/p>\n Parents need to help their kids understand this concept as well.\u00a0 Kids need to experience in concrete ways the blessings that come from doing what pleases God.<\/p>\n Recently, my 2-year-old son Noah got curious about belly buttons.\u00a0 (At age 2, I think it’s okay to contemplate your navel.)\u00a0 He was looking at his belly button, and he wanted to see his mother’s.\u00a0 My wife showed him her belly button, and with the deepest tone of sincerity you’ve ever heard a toddler muster, he said, “Mommy, your belly is beautiful.”<\/p>\n We had been talking to Noah about speaking encouraging words to others, and when he gave his mother this encouragement, we praised him up one side and down the other.\u00a0 We made sure he knew that what he had said not only encouraged his mother, but it also pleased God.\u00a0 We also gave him a special reward.\u00a0 We wanted him experience in a tangible way the blessings that come from\u00a0 pleasing the Lord.\u00a0 Our hope is that by experiencing the blessings of doing things God’s way, Noah will, over time, develop a longing to please the Lord.<\/p>\n If parents can help kids develop a core understanding of these two principle–wrong choices bring hardship but godly choices bring blessing–they will lay a foundation upon which satisfying, Christ-honoring lives can be built.<\/p>\n What suggestions do you have for helping kids understand these principles?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s a parent’s job to help kids understand that the people they turn out to be tomorrow depends a great deal on the kinds of choices they make today. But how does a parent do that? How do you help kids gain a practical understanding of this concept, and how do you help them turn that understanding into life habits?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[135,4151,4152,4150],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>Jerry Seinfeld spoke about this in one of his famous bits.\u00a0 He said,<\/p>\n1. Wrong Choices Bring Hardship<\/strong><\/h2>\n
2. Godly Choices Bring Blessings<\/strong><\/h2>\n