Parenting, Playgrounds, and Megaphones

Okay, so I've only been at this parenting thing for about five and a half years. But at this point I think that there are two things that I can't do too much of:

1. I can't tell my kids that I love them too often.

2. I can't over-do consistency in boundaries. That is, I cannot be too consistent in how I enforce the limits that we have (wisely, I hope) placed on our children. This consistency in holding to the boundaries we've put in place is actually just concrete iteration of point number one.

To this point, I would say that I'm much better at telling my kids that I love them and much too inconsistent at holding to consistent limits and boundaries. Which is to say that I'm much better at telling my kids that I love them than I am at demonstrating it.

Someone recently told me about a study of playgrounds. Kids who played in playgrounds with no fences tended to only use a small portion of the space allotted. Kids who played in playgrounds with fences tended to use the entire space more fully.

Communicating what and where boundaries are and holding to them is a blessing to kids. It's also a blessing to us grown-ups...which why it's part of God's goodness that he gives us firm boundaries.

When we violate those boundaries, it usually results in pain. Pain is God's rumble strips to alert us to having crossed over and outside of a boundary put in place for our good. To quote C.S. Lewis, "pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

So I'm growing in being more consistent in holding to the boundaries that we've put in place for our kids. It's an important part of how I love on them.

And I've got a growing gratitude and joy for the boundaries that have been put in place by my Father who loves me way more than I can ever hope or imagine.