Sneaky behavior

Don’t you just want to trust your kids?  I always believed that kids naturally want to please.  Maybe that was once so, but with children of unstable beginnings seem to have lost this instinct.  Periodically I think that things are doing OK and for the most part the kids are doing alright.  Then come up short realizing that they have been sneaking out of the house at night, bullying another sibling when no one is looking, failing classes by not turning in assignments because they don't like the teacher or subject.

Since when does liking the teacher, teaching method, or the subject determine whether or not you meet the requirements?

So it was another late night and an early morning.  It's easy to start getting angry, hard, and vindictive... looking for ways to force my will for their obedience and respect.  After all, I can see broader and longer for the ramifications of a teen's current convictions and decisions.

Sometimes I find it challenging to be obedient to my Heavenly Father.  It's not that I don't want to please Him. It's just at times I want to please myself more - right now.  As a parent of teens I try to remember the same things...and it brings more compassion to a heart that is having difficulty softening. Patience, long-suffering, compassion...yet firm.

Allow choices, provide consequences, repeat with love. D&C 121:43