Obey Right Away, All the Way, With a Happy Heart!

Yesterday, I mentioned something that we learned from Growing Kids God's Way. Another thing that stuck with us was the definition of obedience. For a child to truly obey an instruction, they must complete it:

• Immediately
• Completely
• Without complaint

We liked this definition, but those are pretty big words for a 2-year-old to grasp.

Then, one day, I was having dinner with a group of ladies. One of the 2Moms mentioned her version of this concept, and I thought it was fabulous. A 2-year-old can understand this! Obedience is:

• Right away
• All the way
• With a happy heart

If any one of the three elements is missing, you don't have obedience. I'm glad we learned this early, because we have used it a lot! That third point is where we spend most of our training energy.