Our Job

It seems my post against the Pearl's material is getting some attention.  It's getting people thinking, and it's getting people talking.  And rightly so.  Whether or not the boycott has any effect on what homeschool or homestead blogger, or The Old Schoolhouse magazine do with their support is really secondary to the hope that parents will become educated with the problems with the Pearls methods, and ideas about childrearing.

Ultimately my first job is to be a servant to God.  It is upon His foundation that all is built.  My second job is to be my husband's wife.  It is upon our relationship that our family is built.  My third job is to be my children's mother.  It is my job to teach them the way they should go.  Not by being their adversary, but by being their team-leader, coach, and captain.

After my family comes others.  I am to treat others how I wish to be treated.  I must approach others with respect, and love.  In so doing, I thought the Pearl's message needed to be addressed.  Spanking aside (because I know good and loving Christians who disagree on this issue) I don't believe that the Pearl's rightly represent "Godly" parenting.

Now, I have to be honest.  After learning a lot about Ezzo and Babywise, I take anyone who says that they are doing it "God's" way with a grain of salt.  I only wish that the Good Lord had included a very precise instruction manual in the bible, one that left NO room for interpretation.  But He didn't.  Apparently He has more faith in us than I do at the moment.

And while one might not agree that my way is the way to do it, I sincerely doubt that either the Pearl's or Gary and Anne-Marie Ezzo have the right way, either.  I don't believe that treating our children like "terrorists" or a "stubborn mule", or discounting the importance of a mother's intuition and emotions, is the way God wants us to parent.

If we look at how He treats us, letting us accept the consequences of our actions, and yet paying the ultimate price so we don't have to;  If we understand the Grace that allows Him to forgive us time and time again;  If we remember the incredible patience He has shown to us throughout our long and bloody history; Then we will have some idea of who we are to be as parents.  And when we think of the awe we feel when we imagine being in our Creator's presence, perhaps we will realize how our children feel in ours.  And I find that incredibly humbling.