To View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7EAhyK-Uv8A
SHOW NOTES
Welcome to a new week of the Hope Rescue Podcast, as well as our first podcast episode of 2022! We’re excited for the new year and looking forward to sharing some new, exciting topics in the coming months. This week, we wrap up our series on “recapturing your voice.” In this episode, we discuss how to raise confident children who stand up for themselves. Keep reading or listening to find out.
Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” The misconception is that anger is always expressed when in reality most anger is actually repressed in the heart. That repressed anger can grow and fester until it reveals itself and can become explosive. If you want to destroy the voice of your children, provoke them to anger. If you want to raise confident children who stand up for themselves, look into their hearts and listen well. When we look to the heart of our child and acknowledge what they feel, we give them a voice. We tell them that what they feel matters and what they have to say is worth listening to. If we listen to our children from a young age, they will grow up to be confident adults with a voice.
We are not telling our listeners to coddle their children and allow them to be dramatic for the sake of being dramatic. Some parents believe their only options when dealing with their children's emotions are either to coddle or completely dismiss the emotions, so they parent on one side of the spectrum. In reality, there is middle ground. If a child is crying and upset, it's okay to comfort your child and hear what they are feeling, even if it is dramatic. It's also okay to teach your children to be resilient and express what is a big deal and what is not worth crying over. There is a healthy balance, and it's important for parents to find that middle ground because if they don't, their children could pay the price later as adults. When we fail to affirm our children's experiences, we take away their voices.
We commonly lose our voices when someone very close to us, like a parent, sibling, or spouse, doesn’t listen to what we have to say. Tim explains that it’s important for us to not only express our perspectives, but it’s also important for someone to listen to our perspectives. There is a difference between someone’s perspective and objective truth, but it’s still important to express how we feel, even if it is skewed.
A healthy voice is balanced and truth-based. We have been discussing the concept of recapturing your voice over the last few weeks because we desire for everyone to have a healthy, balanced, truth-based voice. Kimberly closes out the podcast by encouraging the listeners that it’s never too late to discover and develop your voice. Also, as parents it’s never too late to start recognizing our children’s voices. The sooner we create a safe environment for children to share their perspectives, the healthier their voices will be as they age. Tim ends the podcast with a simple mantra that wraps up our series on recapturing your voice: Hear others and love well.
Thank you for joining us, and we will be back next week with a new episode.
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