For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11
Surprise! We are having lunch and P.E. at Chick-fil-a today. The girls were so excited! The deal is always the same, eat all your lunch then you can play on the playground.
Today, as we were enjoying our delicious nuggets and hot waffle fries, we overheard a mother tell her 3-year-old daughter that it was time to go. The child started screaming and ran back into the play area. Kayla, my 3-year-old, said “Mama, she’s not listening to her mom… that’s not good!”
Two minutes later, the mom went inside the play area and told the child again that it was time to go. Once again, the child chose to scream and play anyway. This time the mom sat down surrendering to the child’s screams, basically saying, if you scream you can have your way. About five minutes later the mom told the child again, it’s time to go. While the child was screaming to the top of her lungs, the mom picked her up and walked out the door.
It’s not fun to discipline your child, but it is necessary. When our children act out or scream they are saying, “I need boundaries, I need direction and I need to feel safe.” By setting up boundaries, kids can feel more secure because they know what is expected.
I always try to give my kids a heads up before we leave the activity we are involved in. Today, for example, I let them know they had five more minutes to play, so this let them know we would be leaving soon but they still had a little time to play.
Disciplining is definitely not my favorite thing to do, but the peaceful fruit of righteousness is well worth it.
Today, when this Mama said it’s time to go, I was rewarded with thankful hearts for the fun surprise! This is not always the case, but as a family, Jesus is always working on each of us to be more like him.
From The Committed Heart 
Well written! Thank you for sharing this truth!
I love your stance on discipline & expectations. My mom would always have talks with both myself & my siblings when we were going places & we always knew what was expected of us. We also knew what was coming if we should decide to act out. Lol! Working with children in daycare & substituting, I learned she was on to something. Children need to know what is & isn’t okay, & will gladly rise to meet your expectations. They’re such blessings 🙂 Great post!
Thanks Katie for taking the time to read my blog and thank you for the encouraging words.