3Steps
to Taming Your Child ’ s Tongue
By Ginger Hubbard
What causes a child to speak such tender words as “ I love you ” and “ You ’ re the best mommy in the world ” in one breath and in the next say something terrible ? Before I had children , whenever I thought about my future family , I envisioned happy , well-mannered little darlings who always obeyed . Boy , was I in for a rude awakening . What happened to all my plans for great parenting and well-behaved children ? The stick turned blue . Twice .
In short order , I became the mom who was consistently taken aback when her kids spoke foolishly , whether it was in the form of whining , lying , or talking back . With an expression of shock , I would ask , “ Why do you act like that ?” After a closer look at the Word of God , I realized I was asking the wrong question .
Jesus explained , “ For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of ” ( Matt . 12:34 ). In other words , there is merit to the old saying , “ What ’ s down in the well comes up in the bucket .” Our sin does not begin with our mouths ; it begins with our hearts . The sin that shows up in our words comes from
“ Mooooomy , I want some juuuiiice !”( whining ) “ She was mean to me first !”( blaming ) “ You ’ re stupid !”( disrespecting ) “ Tommy ’ s not doing what you told him to do !”( tattling ) “ No , I ’ m not going to clean my room !”( disobeying ) “ I didn ’ t take a cookie from the jar !”( lying ) “ You don ’ t love me anymore !”( manipulation )
32 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW