David Journal

Tag: parenting

  • Answering the sins of the people upon our own heads

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    David
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    As a parent there is naturally a certain amount of answering the sins of the children upon our own heads if we do not teach them what is right. The challenge is to keep in perspective when they choose wrong because they have not been sufficiently taught vs when they choose wrong even when they…

  • Corners turned … we hope

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    David
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    Enoch has spent the last several weeks defiantly trying to prove that nobody can make him do anything. He doesn’t have to go to school, or to church, or to therapy, or do his chores unless he gets the rewards that he defines (obscene quantities of video game time). Yesterday we finally agreed on a…

  • Choosing who to heed

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    David
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    I can’t recall if I had this thought yesterday or if it came this morning but I realized that Josh (Isaac) has determined not to accept any influence from me or anyone who is interested in his spiritual health. Due to agency it is his right to decide who he will heed and no matter…

  • Quotes to focus on Love

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    David
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    When people complain about things (especially youth) John Davidson responds with “I love it, give it to me.” It’s a habit he learned from his dad. I think maybe I can use that when my kids complain about church things. That might eventually have more effect than saying “I didn’t say you had to like…

  • Nuggets of insight

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    David
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    While sitting in Sunday School i had the following impression regarding teaching although I am still trying to figure out how to share and apply it: if we are trying to lead the discussion (as in, we have decided where the comments should be headed generally) we will be less open to following where the…

  • Nothing there

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    David
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    It feels important to record this state. For many weeks now I have felt that Laura no longer seems to care at all about our marriage—like she has again emotionally divorced herself from me. She’s done this a couple of times in the last two years but in the previous iterations she could say least…

  • A Talk with Isaac

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    David
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    I talked with Isaac today about his obvious disdain for our parenting. I told him that there would be no more “every man for himself” and no more “every man prospers according to his strength.” I asked him if we have been too demanding or too aloof? I told him “You let us know when…

  • Impossible context

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    David
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    Laura has great ideas about how to socialize children and set a positive foundation by activities such as going to museums. She fails to contemplate the differences between trying to set such a foundation between the hours of 9AM and 9PM vs trying to set that foundation between the hours of 5PM and 9PM while…

  • Vindication

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    David
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    After years and years of Laura telling me I yell at the kids too much it is a special kind of vindication that she came up to me this evening and said “It amazes me that you don’t yell at the kids more.” Part of that is that I have learned how to yell less…

  • New focus … again

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    David
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    I am reminded again if the need to drop anything that might distract from the family and focus my efforts on only the core responsibilities. If I get caught up in a nice project we suffer from it. We had a nice bike ride between sessions this afternoon and in the evening I watched a…