(ok, it's Katy, not me in the picture, but I gave up looking for the other one I wanted...you get the point.) I wonder exactly why God chose to give us that responsibility. I feel so unqualified for this job (maybe that's part of why because if we were totally qualified we wouldn't have to rely on HIM). Even when things sail along smoothly, it's tough to know just how much responsibility or freedom to give your children at any given time. Today, we allowed the girls to do something that was against our better judgment. They wanted to do something with an older friend who would be leaving to go back home tomorrow, but we struggle with being comfortable with the situation. We allowed them to go under STRICT guidelines and an explanation of what to do if the rules were not followed. We also told them that it was likely that we would be checking in on them. We sent them off to go play, and waited 10 minutes. Then, I left to go check on them. We were quite sure that our rules would not be followed. We were correct. What followed was some serious hysterics from 2 young girls. We managed to stay quite calm and collected even though we were upset. We also told them that we would be following our "gut instinct" the next time instead of trying to allow them to do something special like this. Needless to say, they are both having a hard time understanding why they will have consequences to deal with in the future. I think it hit Lilly at supper that she had broken our trust because she just started bawling. "I've broken your trust. Now you won't be able to trust me EVER again." We assured her that she could earn our trust back and that we loved her.
Anyone have any great insight into how you explain to a 6 yr old that breaking trust has consequences?
How do you go with your gut instinct when you also feel you want to allow your children an opportunity to have a little extra freedom this once?
UGH! If only they came with instruction books!
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