Keep Quiet

"Keep quiet!", shouts Joel.


This is something Ethaniel has not mastered.


Keeping quiet, is not something he is good at.


In fact, I think he struggles with it ....


What makes me think so?


Well...the constant interruptions when we do Wisdom Booklet together, asking questions irrelevant to the topic discussed in the Wisdom Booklet...


Humming while in the car, showering in the bathroom, while walking....


While he does his writing.... he talks....


While he does his reading... he talks in between sentences .....


Yesterday, he talked so much while his older brother was doing his project that Joel had difficulty concentrating. After some frustrated effort of trying to finish his project, Joel came over and said ...


Joel: "Mom, if I didn't have self control, I would have punched Ethaniel!"


Me: "I am glad you exercised self-control"


Joel: "The only reason I used self-control is because I am afraid of you... what you will do to me if I punched him!"


Me: "Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom - its in the bible"


Joel: "Fear of YOU stopped me from punching him... not God!"


Me: :-/


When children are young, parents are representatives of God. They cannot see God but seeing their parents, they can visualize what God is like. If parents are loving, fair, firm and etc. That's how they see God.


Struggles.... don't we all have them? Some struggles with trying to keep quiet, some with self-control and the rest of us with everything else.

Caught on camera: Joel 'torturing' his younger brother by flipping his finger to his earlobe. Note the cheeky smile on his face. He didn't know I was taking his photo by zooming the camera from afar.