I remembered our wedding march was "great is Thy faithfulness". I have always felt how The Lord has planned and taken control of things in our lives. But many times we loose track, become proud and try to maneuver things our own way. Many many times, we ignore His speaking and leading within and do things our way. Many many times, we loose sight of God's perfect will and do just as we please.
As parents, we tend to react to our children according to the flesh. We are so quick to anger and shout at them. We loose our temper easily. And let's admit it, when we loose our temper , we loose our self control, eventually our image as role models. I have always believed that children do copy us - adults all the time. As a preschool teacher, I have caught my student mimicking me and copying my movements. It's so funny! Once, I caught my student say , "Kwan" - an Ilocanos expression I have. How my female students want to grow their hair long because I have long hair. As a mother, it becomes difficult. Because of your temperament and your son's manipulation, we cannot help but loose our temper. And i felt really bad every time it happen. So, after the marriage retreat we had last September, I have dedicated my motherhood to The Lord and asked for The Lord to give me wisdom and much more grace in dealing with my kids.
As it turns out, when you learn to let go of your standards, pray for your children and spend more time with them, you develop relationship that will usher in communication, affection and even obedience. I have experience Nathan giving in and obeying once we had good communication.