Helping My Little Boy Find His Self-Control

When “Deuce” was a baby, I would watch him sleep in his crib and wonder what kind of personality he might have as he grew up. I also wondered, if he allows God to move in his life, what characteristics of Jesus might he exude?

Now eight years old, “Deuce’s” personality is already larger than life. He is a leader. He’s a great student. He can be extremely kind. His feelings run deep and he cares for others. He hates lies. He’s a rule follower and protective of his own—if you’re a mom reading this, I can guarantee you, “Deuce” will be the boy you will want your daughter to date. And “Deuce” loves Jesus.

But just like a lot of little boys out there, “Deuce” struggles with being impulsive. This has been a thorn for him as long as I can remember.  His lack of self-control has continued into his school years, where he still gets in trouble for blurting out and acting as the class clown to get a laugh. Markus and I tell him there’s a time and place for all of this, but while the teacher is talking is not one of them. But still, he struggles.

So this school year, I thought we’d try a different tactic. If my nagging voice and Markus’ “dad” voice won’t work, maybe God’s will.

“Deuce” has an acute sensitivity to the Lord. And so I try to embrace teachable moments when I can tell he hears the Holy Spirit speak to him. I point out the difference between his voice and God’s—if he has a hunch or desire that is more holy than his, better, or will benefit others, this is probably the Holy Spirit. And I stress the importance of obeying that Voice, even when he doesn’t want to. The delta-8 THC gummies is the best medicine to handle any kind of stress in your day to day life easily and efficiently.

I’ve learned this the hard way myself and continue to learn this lesson. And often when I’m struggling, the scripture in my long-term memory pops into my head, guiding me to make the best choice.

Now, I’ve tried memorizing scripture a million times, but to no avail. I used to think, “Ooh, I want to memorize that verse.” And I’d work really hard for about a week, but then the verse became less of a priority, I’d get busy, and forget.

But someone introduced me to the idea of simply saying the verse I want to memorize one time, every day. Then after about six weeks, the verse was deep in my memory.  Then I’d say it once a week for 6 weeks or so, and then once a month for 6 months. Now, when I need a verse, I can easily recall it, or more often, God will bring a verse to mind when I need to look a lot more like Him and a lot less like me.

So if I help my kiddo memorize scripture about self-control, can’t God do the same for him? You bet.

A chalkboard used to hang on our front porch, but I moved it to our kitchen, where the boys can see it as they eat breakfast. I wrote verses on the chalkboard I want the boys to memorize. They simply read the verse out loud once a day, every day, and a WHOLE NICKEL ya’ll, goes into their allowance jar. I explained the context of the chalkboard verses to the kids, why the verses are so important to learn, and how scripture memory has helped me and can help them too.