I think it is important to discipline our children, but I don’t think its good when we do it in our frustration. I have not had this struggle in a while, but I can attest to that as this is something that i struggled with this week. The bible does state in several scriptures the importance of disciplining our children, but the one that always stuck out to me is, He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves his son is careful to discipline him Proverbs 13:24 .

This past week, we had some errands to run, and we had to take my middle son Josh ( he is 8 years old ) shopping to look for soccer shoes because his feet was growing so his shoes were starting to get hard for him to put on. When i first spoke to him about this, he had no desire to leave the house to go look for shoes. He told me he had a hard day at school and just wanted to relax. I let him relax for 3 days before I said it was time to look for shoes. I let him know that first we have to go Costco to go food shopping, and then we would be going to Tj Maxx, Ross, and Marshalls to go look for shoes.

I understand these stores are hit or miss when it comes to soccer shoes, but really was trying to save money because I just bought him shoes not even 6 months ago and those were $70 and he already was growing out of them so it didn’t seem like a good financial decision to go spending that kind of money again. The prior week we checked Ross and TJ Maxx, which I found out that TJ Maxx doesn’t have kid shoes, and they dont really cater to boys much.

In my quest to save money, I figured we had to try and look again. I want to steward what God has given us correctly, and sometime that may involve going on a hunt, and in my case it was shoes lol. So we finish shopping at Costco and everything is fine. Then we leave there, and I guess he forgot that we had to go to other stores cause one he saw we were taking the opposite direction instead of home, he started to fuss. I really didn’t understand that because he needs shoes so he can be comfortable, and who wants to wear shoes that are to tight.

We get to the parking lot of Marshals and here comes the attitude. Now I was not in the mood for this attitude, especially since I am just trying to hurry and get these soccer shoes so we can go on with our lives. I told him lets go while his dad waited in the car with the baby and he kept grumbling, and then while we are walking across the street, with cars around us he decides he didn’t want me to touch him and pulled away from me and had that angry look on his face. Now that was enough to upset me and when we crossed the street I grabbed him by his hair and let him know, “Boy don’t you act like that when we are on the road where you can get banged, and you better wise up right now because I am trying to get you shoes so you can be more comfortable. Now keep it up and you will be sorry. ” Just as I was finished here comes a lady who just gave me an evil look and that really didn’t help my flesh.

I didn’t tell her anything, but I sure didn’t give her a smile neither. As we walked in the store my sons attitude shifted, and he acted much better, but that look that she gave me, it made me feel like a bad mom, and I felt condemned. As we know condemnation is the devil, but i let it in and didn’t chase the thought away. As we walked out of the store empty handed, I felt bad about myself as a parent.

I know now I could have handled that differently, and I know that I am not perfect, but I am learning and growing everyday, and thank God I am not who I once was. I am a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17. I understand now that he just wanted to relax, and I get it, but the disrespect is not acceptable, especially since we were in a parking lot with moving cars around, and I will not let my children disrespect me without correction, but there is also a time and a place for everything. And i can see how that lady didn’t know me at all, she was just going off of what she saw, and maybe she came from an abusive past, or it could be anything. Maybe she is more into gentle parenting. Whatever it is I made my peace with how I acted after I talked to God, apologized to Josh for pulling his hair, but let him know what he did was wrong and disrespectful and he understands as well and he apologized for acting like that. It was a good humbling experience and an experience that God used to draw me closer to him. Hallelujah that he is always with us. I should have spoke with him first before correction, and in the future I will. How do you gals feel about discipline in public?