The Way Of The WorkSample

Do Not Provoke

How do fathers and mothers provoke their kids? How do parents provoke their children to anger?

We do it in numerous ways. Here are some of those ways:

1. We provoke our kids to anger when we don’t express our love to them. Just about all parents love their kids, but not all parents express it so that their children will feel loved. Parents express love to their children with their words, with listening, with touch, with focused attention, and with discipline.

2. We provoke our kids to anger through too much discipline or through too little discipline.

3. Every child needs discipline. It is proof of love, as the Proverbs teach us and God models for us. But too much discipline (too harsh, too stern, too rigid, too severe) or too little discipline (no boundaries, no rules, no consequences) causes a child to be frustrated.

4. We provoke our kids to anger if we smother them or neglect them. Parents who smother their kids, who are hovering, controlling, and overprotective, will drive them away. Every child needs increasing freedom and independence from their parents so that the child is ready to leave home as a young adult. On the other hand, parents who neglect their children, who are too busy for their children, or who even abandon their children also provoke great anguish in them.

5. We provoke our kids to anger if we don’t listen to them. Every child longs to be heard and understood by mom and dad. If they do not feel heard, deeply heard, they will be frustrated and hurt. This means that parents must always be ready to listen, for they never know when their child is ready to talk.

6. We provoke our kids to anger when we use sarcasm or ridicule. Sarcasm and ridicule wound a child, especially when they come from a parent. Speak words that breathe life into your child.