The other day I had this verse in my head from our “Hide ‘em in your Heart” CD
“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
“Train up…”
I needed this verse in that moment. Summer time at our house means a lot of time for training. We spend more hours together and have more “opportunities” for correction. aka:
Little boys fighting over toys.
Hitting one another.
Speaking unkindly.
Disobeying their lovely mom.
Arguing/negotiating over boundaries. You get the picture.
Personally, I like to see fast results. I like crafts that I can complete in an afternoon. As a child, dusting was my favorite chore because you could immediately see a change in the surface of what you were dusting…blah to beautiful in one swipe.
Therefore, with my boys if I tell them not to do something or explain how one should conduct oneself, I often think I should see immediate results…like dusting.
But training is not at all about quick results. When I think of training of think of a good friend who trains for triathlons and not just the regular triathlons…Iron Man Races. She has completed 3 Iron Mans already (no, I don’t know why she is friends with me).
In order for her to complete this grueling physical challenge, she can’t just roll out of bed that morning put on a swimsuit and swim 2.4 miles, then hop on a bike and ride 112 miles then put on running shoes and run a marathon. It takes MONTHS of training…every day…long workouts…sacrifices. 
When we are commanded “train up a child…” it’s not one time of correcting and they are well on their way. No,it’s a daily, moment by moment, correction and direction for YEARS so that their heart knows where to go. So their medals can say, “FINISHER”!
Be encouraged today. If you have had to repeat yourself 20x regarding a particular “opportunity” for correction, stay strong. It’s a training process and when your child gets to their personal “Iron Man” they will be ready because of your dedication to the training them in the way they should go.
(authors note: obviously we realize that God is in control of our children and their ultimate destiny. However, this verse is a command from His word and if He is center in our lives as moms we need to obey this command. Trusting the results to Him)
What things do you find you are constantly training in your children?
oh, it’s a whole mess of things, isn’t it. How to be kind. How to listen. How to speak. How to let your little sister be 3 years old. How to be safe. How to respond. With my very small amount of experience in training for running events, I trained myself to do very simple things like how to breathe, how to dress, how to stretch, how to pace myself, — thank you for the reminder, Heather. We really are running a race – it’s just more messy and beautiful and in our face as we run it with other little “us”lings, I mean God-images who in their sweet, young little lives, oddly enough look to us for their training. God, lead us.
That is great, Heather. I recently have added asking God for STRENGTH in training up my children, because it is so easy to just get lax about it all when it doesn’t seem to be working RIGHT AWAY!
After yelling at the boys this morning about a fight over who turned off the TV I realized how much my reaction depends on my mood, all about me. I train for sports in a mythotical way, contistency is key. This should be the same with the boys, consistency, as you said, I can not expect any immediate changes. Same thing with my faith, the more consistent the better!