Let’s be honest... don’t we believe that our child is the cutest child on the planet? Your answer should definitely be, “YES!” which is as it should be! Ultimately, it is your job as a mom, to see past the cuteness, love past the cuteness, and parent past the cuteness. Acknowledge that your child is adorable, smart and hands down the best child on the planet, but you must teach your child values in life. Teach them how to treat others well, how to share, how to not throw food off their plate, how to wait patiently on others, how to put others before themselves, how to tell the truth, how to work hard and how to be kind and loving. Do any of these values come naturally to any of us?  Not really!  What does come natural is the idea of “me, myself and I.”

Loving your child past the cuteness requires us to look past their cute outward qualities and teach them what it says in 1 Samuel 16:7… “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” My mom used to tell me when I was growing up, “Pretty is, as pretty does.” Being pretty on the outside is fine, but if you are not pretty on the inside, through your actions and words towards others, then outward appearances don't matter.  True beauty comes from within.  Ultimately, isn’t it more important that our children’s creator, God, sees their beautiful inside, not for the world to only see their beautiful outside?

Teaching is hard, and it takes time…lots and lots of time.  Teaching feels never ending and sometimes defeating. When you are teaching, leading and guiding your child, there will be times you will think, “ugh, when will they ever learn?”  Don’t worry... that is teaching! To be a teacher you must be patient, you must endure, and see the “more” in the child than they see in themselves.  Think of schoolteachers and their job every year.  I’m sure around January they are thinking to themselves, “Is this child ever going to learn how to multiply or write a paper that is worth reading?” But, the teacher hangs in there and loves past the cuteness because they know that just being cute in life will not bring success and fulfillment in their lives.

Don’t give up moms! You have a BIG job ahead of you…teaching and guiding your children is not for the faint of heart or the lazy.  Keep going- you are doing a great job! Love you all,