Motivating your Kids: Identifying Temptations

As a parent, I found it helpful to notice what kind of temptations tended to get my little toddlers in trouble. I tried to have sense of humor about the whole parenting thing.
I envy parents who seem to have the gift of turning the most tedious chores into an excuse to laugh and have fun together. Haven’t you noticed, though, that even the children of fun parents can still be ornery at times?
No matter what parenting skills we bring to the task, one of the toughest jobs for a parent is teaching kids to be self-motivated.
The best kind of human is one that serves others, right? So, it follows that we want to inspire our children to be self-motivated about serving others. But how?
Humans are universally motivated by the desire for the same three types of things; the desire for success, stuff, and security.
These are sometimes referred to as temptations, as in boastful pride of life, lust of the eye, and lust of the flesh. I suppose temptation and motivation are almost synonyms sometimes, depending on how you look at it.
If you can identify what tempts your child, you then hold the key to motivation.
-For the child that is tempted to do things because of peer pressure, as in the boastful pride of life, it is a small step to help that little one understand that they have a loving Father whose favor is more valuable than any human peer’s.
If your child attends school, it is surprisingly easy to use the volatility of popularity to point out the vast advantage of seeking the approval of a God who is not arbitrary and whose love does not waver.
Serving others becomes a natural by-product of seeking what is best for others in response to a loving God who does the same.
-For the child who seeks reward in material ways, as in the lust of the eye, a parent can use simple, immediate rewards to teach the principle of greater, far-off rewards.
For example, when our girls were young teenagers, we paid them to “babysit” when young mothers brought toddlers to our house. It wasn’t long before we weren’t paying to have young guests entertained.
The reward of having younger friends following them is highly motivating for young people.
-For the child who is motivated by security, that is, the need to feel safe and special, as in the lust of the flesh, nothing is more reassuring than self-confidence. Confidence is cultivated by taking small risks and experiencing success.
Both success and failure will teach the child that risks are manageable because he has a parent who will be there for him and a God who is even more trustworthy than the most loving parent. Learning to trust God will allow that child to take risks in order to serve others.
It sure takes a lot of pressure off a parent to understand what motivates our kiddoes.
Less pressure means more time to laugh.
Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives and writes with a Texas twang. Comments are invited at http://checklistcharlie.blogspot.com or cathykrafve@gmail.com.