day eighty-one: obedience/contentment of a preschooler

“Our philosophy of parenting is that a demanding toddler often becomes a spoiled preschooler; a spoiled preschooler often becomes a difficult elementary child; a difficult elementary child often becomes a surly tween; a surly tween often becomes a rebellious teen; and a rebellious teen often becomes a selfish adult. It doesn’t just magically end. Thus, we worked hard at training our toddlers and preschoolers to obey, be content when he or she did not get his or her own way, be cooperative, etc.—while loving them like crazy.” Monday, March 22nd



So was Jonathan really as obedient and content as “Jonathan’s Journal” portrays him? Like all families, our preschoolers (well, really, all of us!) had their moments. We had one fairly strong-willed preschooler and one extremely difficult preschooler—who both became delights through toddler and preschool training, love, consistency, and discipline. For the most part, our preschoolers (and especially four of the last five, once we got the hang of parenting young children and set precedents in expected behaviors of our children) really did demonstrate the obedience and joyfulness/contentment that Jonathan did in our book, and as an aside, he continues to be a selfless, kind, respectful teenager too!


This didn’t just happen though. Our philosophy of parenting is that a demanding toddler often becomes a spoiled preschooler; a spoiled preschooler often becomes a difficult elementary child; a difficult elementary child often becomes a surly tween; a surly tween often becomes a rebellious teen; and a rebellious teen often becomes a selfish adult. It doesn’t just magically end. Thus, we worked hard at training our toddlers and preschoolers to obey, be content when he or she did not get his or her own way, be cooperative, etc.—while loving them like crazy.


We were not “out of balanced” parents who groaned and frowned all the time while demanding that our children behave or else. Likewise, we were not indulgent parents who failed to look into the future and realize that the repercussions of today’s choices in parenting our toddlers and preschoolers were long term—as in life long.


Yes, we maintained an awesome, predictable, consistent, fun-filled, learning enriched, Bible-focused schedule for our preschoolers—and we expected obedience and contentment from them as well. It can be done—and we are here to tell you that you can absolutely love getting up in the mornings and spending your days with these little people. You do not have to hope that Grandma comes to take a child off your hands or pray that bedtime will arrive soon. (Not that you will never feel those things—let’s be realistic; however, those feelings do not have to be the norm.) You can have obedient, content preschoolers as you, not they, schedule their day and make decisions for their well-being.