The Wednesday Word

Proverbs 22:6

King James Version (KJV)

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  [source]

Here we are waiting on the Christmas Parade for this year.  It was really cold that night.  I didn't want to get out in the cold weather for the parade because I had already been out in it earlier. The freezing cold had gotten into my bones, and I couldn't seem to get warm no matter how hard I tried.

The boys came home from school expecting to go to the parade that night.  I hated to disappoint them so I conditioned our trip back into town to watch the parade on their acceptance that we sit in the car until we could see the actual parade floats coming down the road.

I didn't want to stand out in the cold waiting.  I didn't want the boys standing out in the cold waiting either.

They agreed.  When we got there, despite their earlier agreement to my conditions, the boys still pleaded to stand out in the cold with everyone especially their friends.  But I stood firm.

Once we saw the first of the parade topping the hill, I allowed the boys to get out and wait with everyone else.   .  .  with their warm coats on!

It was soooo cold!  They were freezing.  Look at Shane's chattering teeth and red nose! 

It didn't take long before they were huddled next to me trying to warm up.  I didn't have to ask them to get in the car once Santa and Mrs. Claus at the end of the parade rolled past us.

 All this to say that training up children to wear their super warm clothes for the freezing cold during a Christmas parade is best done by letting them "freeze" a little during the parade.  Fortunately, no children got sick from this training exercise, and hopefully they learned a lesson about bundling up for the cold!

Training up boys that sometimes learn the hard way is how it's done with . . .

                              the Ferrell boys and me!