#248 Dad's Dilemma

On Saturday, my family had to run some errands. As we drove down the road, Mia got Tess's attention and made it known that she wanted to listen to "The Wheels on the Bus." I was driving. My music was playing. Unlike my dear two-year-old daughter, I had absolutely no interest in listening to "The Wheels on the Bus." I've heard the song approximately 4,215,877 times since I became a father. The version that Tess has downloaded on her phone features children doing that shout-sing thing that little kids do—you know the thing that's adorable when it's your own children but is pretty painful to listen to someone else's kid is doing it.

Anyway, Mia's request to listen to "The Wheels on the Bus" landed me in the midst of a dilemma I often find myself in as a dad. Do I tell my daughter no and carry on with what I'm doing or do I give in and let her get what she wants? I want my kids to learn that they can't get everything they want, and even when they do get those things, they can't always get them as soon as they want them. So that makes me inclined, at least at times, to tell them to wait or to simply say no. But I also believe that there are many times when I as a Christian father need to sacrifice my own self-interest in order to righty love and serve my children. So which is correct in this case? I'm not often sure. I know that I'm very capable of trying to justify my own selfishness under the cover of teaching my daughters some life lesson. But I also know that my kid isn't going to die if she doesn't sing "The Wheels on the Bus" for the fourth time that day. Wrestling with my own sinfulness is hard enough. Trying to do that while also not teaching even more sinfulness to my kids is even harder. I'm sure I screw this kind of decision up over and over again. So I'm trying to be a little more self-critical and aware of my own motivations. I pray that God in His grace will not only help me grow but also make me want to strive to grow day by day.

And, for what it's worth, after four or five more songs, I let Mia listen to "The Wheels on the Bus" one time before returning to my music. Hopefully that was a decent decision.

Grace and peace,

BMH