Teaching Diligence

February 9, 2009

Now that we have covered the character trait of Responsibility, we will move on to Diligence. Responsibility and Diligence go hand in hand. 

Kim recently asked:

Maybe you’ve already posted about it and I missed it, but do you have any
recommendations on how to keep the children diligent?

I am having a problem with this with my children!!!!  I have an egg timer which I
use, but I am not sure what the consequences should be if they do not finish in time
(which they never seem to do). It’s getting frustrating because nothing is working.

Responsibility ~ Know your duty, do your duty.

Diligence~ Do your duty to the best of your ability.

I think most of us do try to find systems, rules, consequences that will make our children be responsible, to know their duty and do their duty; and to a degree we need to do that. BUT, what it all boils down to is diligence, and the brunt of the diligence falls on the shoulders of the parents! Yeah, I don’t like it either. 

Our job is to be diligent in our teaching, shepherding, training, what ever you choose to call it. If our children know we will give in at a certain level of resistance, they will push you to that limit. They are smart, very smart!

Some times we just throw our hands up in frustration because we just don’t know what else to say or do. Maybe it is not about finding a different way of doing things, but simply we parents standing firm, not budging, and remaining diligent. Showing the children we mean what we say.

The problem most parents have is there is so much going on their lives (job, housework, schoolwork, church, sports, club meetings,  relationships, etc…) that there is little energy to be diligent in teaching/training.

Being diligent in child training can totally zap a parent; but if you persevere, one day it will pay off. One day you will have a responsible young adult, one that is trustworthy to do his duty! By God’s grace that is. Isn’t that more important than winning the championship?

Johnny really doesn’t need to be active in so many outside activities. He needs to be home learning how to be responsible, being diligent. Once that character trait is developed then he can branch out to other activities.

Parents need to choose what it is that they truly want to instill in their children. If they want a child of strong character then they need to schedule their day, week or year to allow for that. There are seasons of life. Some seasons should be embraced before moving on.

I have a friend that told me when her children were about 10-12 that she wanted to focus on their academics and get that behind them, then she would focus on the character issues. Needless to say the character issues never were handled, they had a childhood of bad habits formed. Wouldn’t it have been better to train the character issues first? Wouldn’t that make everything else easier? Maybe?

Don’t get me wrong, we cannot neglect ‘school’ and only work on diligence or any other trait, but there are times when character training needs to be more the focus, the primary goal. So what if it takes twice as long to finish a book, their character is more important!

How do you get your children to be dilgent?

YOU have to be diligent, and that means TIME and PRAYER!

Make not being diligent as uncomfortable as possible, ie… extra work. 

Choose your battles, work on the most pressing issues first.

The real key is for mom and dad to follow through every time!

Remember how patient God is with us, PRESS ON toward your high calling.

Don’t grow weary in doing good. )

I’d love to hear your comments.

Topics: Diligence | 4 Comments »