Just Some Thoughts- Because I Said So!

Yay! It is officially September! I am relieved for a new month because I was beginning to look like a blogging nut!! Haha, yes, August was a record breaking month for blog posting- of course it had a lot to do with the 12 post saga of our vacation, and August in general is a busy month for our family. Well, September isn't a whole lot better. We have several family birthdays this month- Bennett will be one at the end of the month!!!- our friends Alan and Erica will also be having their baby this month!! And college football season is well under way! Who doesn't look forward to those brisk fall days with a big old pot of chili on the stove and an exciting football game on TV (specifically a Nebraska football game if you are a Braithwait!) I am sure I will have a blog post dedicated to Husker game day in our household coming soon!

Well lately I have been feeling like my blogging has been lacking in the creativity department. Maybe it's because all my recent posts have been pretty straight forward updates on the kids. It has been a while since I have posted on just some thoughts, so I thought it was time I did just that. So if your not into blog posts without pictures (which includes most of my side of the family =) Then skip on past this one.

I love to read, but I don't do a whole lot of it. I wish I was better about intentionally setting aside time to do more of it, since that kind of time doesn't exactly just fall into my lap these days. But I almost always have a book I am reading, it might just take me, oh, months, to finish it! I love to read tear jerking fiction ( i.e. Nicholas Sparks, Francine Rivers) but more often I read books on how to be a better lover of God, lover of my husband, and lover of my children- Lord knows I can use all the help I can get in those departments! And with my wonderful in-laws, there is never a shortage of those kinds of books in our house! They are always graciously giving us new insightful, wonderful books to read, I love it.

Well, one book I have been slowly but surely reading through lately is a parenting book that was, in fact, given to us by Ryan's parents- Hopeful Parenting,by David Jeremiah. I probably read this little snippet at least a month ago, but it was something that was such a new idea to me, I still think about it. This little thought took up all of a couple of paragraphs in this 250 page book, but it stood out to me as such a foreign concept, and I thought- I would love to get some others thoughts on it. This may be meaningless to most of you, but to me as I we are rapidly getting deeper into the discipline mode with our children, it was quite interesting.

The heading over these couple of paragraphs is "Explain your reasons behind your decisions." It is part of a list of ten ways to love your kids. The writer begins these paragraphs by saying, "In my opinion, 'Because I said so' ought to be stricken from every parent's vocabulary. What worthless words!"
STOP! What?!? Okay, if this is the case, sorry mom and dad, but you guys might be getting an F in this department! I can't count how many times in my childhood I heard the words "Because I said so!" I can still even see the face my dad would make when he used this beloved expression! And honestly that is one of those things that you hate as a kid, and you turn around and do as a parent. I have ALWAYS had the attitude that I am the parent, if I say something, I don't have to explain myself to my child, and "Because I said so" should be a sufficient and respected answer!
So needless to say, someone telling me that I owe it to my child to explain myself and allow them, to understand the rationale behind my decisions, kind of turned my world upside down ( I know that's a little dramatic, but you get the idea) I guess I would think that at times I could and would explain myself and why I made a particular decision to my kids, but I just don't know if I can let go of the idea that "Because I said so" sometimes is reason enough!?!? So anyways, I would love to get some of your thoughts on this, if any of you are farther into this parenting thing than I and have some great wisdom to offer up on this, I would love to hear it!

I have quickly in my short time of being a parent, learned that disciplining children is not always as black and white as I had always hoped and thought it would be. My philosophy, simply put, has always been:
Bad Behavior= Spanking= Good Behavior
Yes, I know-naive!
I know now with my two year old that this is NOT how it always goes. But how grey this area can be would not only be another post, but probably a separate novel, so we just won't go there.

All I can say, is I am learning as I go here and I desire to do the best I can with the resources God has given me, and all I can hope is to raise my children in the way that is most glorifying to Him as I possibly can.