Every person at birth inherits by inheritance a fleshly nature that is initially inclined toward sin and exerts great influence on the mind and consciousness. This innate nature is called that very flesh with which there is constant struggle of a person's spirit, which desires to live righteously, according to law, observing all God's commandments. God gives believers in Him strength to successfully resist sinful nature, but not everyone wants to have this strength.
Our children are no exception to this great struggle, and they also need strength from above to overcome their fleshly inclinations. But their problem is that they do not understand the difference between good and evil, and it is natural for them to live as they are taught and as their feelings suggest to them.
When observing the behavior of little ones, it is worth understanding how they behave and what governs them. All of them are by nature egocentric and somewhat willful, and this should not be feared, and they should not be punished for this. Proper upbringing in love and faith in God suppresses fleshly inclinations and does not allow sin to dominate over the child's will. Parents should liken themselves to a wise doctor who, having a sick patient, does not fight with the symptoms of the disease, but tries to establish the cause that provoked this illness and eliminate it.
In the lives of little ones who behave not as you would like, you can also calculate from whom they take example and what they look at. They do not yet have experience to invent vice for themselves and do what is considered bad. But it is natural for them to copy what is before their eyes and produce what they absorb into themselves. If the problem is identified, then you need to look for the cause, which may be either in the parents themselves or in the environment with which your child maintains relationships.
It is characteristic for a little one to reflect in their behavior what they see. They cannot invent bad things, and if they did something accidentally and do not repeat this action anymore, then there is no need to concentrate on this.
Infants do not yet have a strong neural connection between the two hemispheres of the brain that are responsible for controlling the body, mind and emotions, and therefore they cannot concentrate on one thing for long and bring started work to completion. But through constant instruction and repetition, they develop certain habits that subsequently form their character.
Sinfulness and vice are different things that should not be generalized and confused. Sinfulness is unconscious choice and unintentional bad behavior that may be caused by internal physical or emotional imbalance, or immaturity of the little one, or searching for boundaries, or repetition of a seen example that has not yet become a habit.
Vice is a more stable habit of bad behavior that is considered in culture to be sinful, dangerous or harmful. As a rule, this is a conscious choice that a child makes due to a formed lifestyle. At an early stage of growth, while the child does not realize the harmfulness of their bad behavior, everything is much more easily correctable, because this has not become their habit, and they understand what they are doing and want to do it.
The mood of each of us depends on hormonal changes in the organism, and children are no exception to this rule. They quickly fall into hormonal dependence if parents do not understand the strength of this influence.
Example - consumption of artificial sweets during meals. When sugar contacts the tongue, the hormone dopamine is produced, which reports that there is something tasty and unusual in the mouth. This taste is associated with the external appearance of the sweet product, and the child remembers the experienced pleasure, name and appearance of this dish. Next time their glance or familiar word triggers dopamine production, and the little one naturally asks for what tastes good to them, not understanding how harmful or beneficial it is. And if it were their will, they would eat only candies and chocolate. And there is no fault of the child in this. Their mind is not yet capable of analyzing these processes and resisting them, therefore parents need special wisdom to better not give children what can spoil their taste, just for the sake of a momentary joy of the child to make them a dependent sweet tooth.
At an older age, when children understand what is good and what is bad, they can be explained the benefits and harm of artificial sweets and observe what they will have more preference for. The struggle with perverted appetite is not only a children's problem, but also grief for many adults, and the roots of this vice are laid in early childhood at the family table.
Small children are prone to scatter everything and not clean up after themselves, whine and be tearful, show laziness and refuse household duties, abandon one task and take up another, be slow and sluggish, take offense and sulk, show greed, be cruel to other children and animals, rebel and get angry, make noise and shout, and do much else that can bewilder parents. If such things happen at an early age, this is easily correctable, but when a child understands that this should not be done and does it anyway, this is already serious. The task of father and mother includes instilling in children opposite, good, qualities of soul and raising in young creatures those virtues that will make them suitable for Heaven.
Lack of sleep, overwork, overeating, indigestion, fear, offense, irritation and other things can become the cause of disobedience or bad behavior of a child. Parents should understand the real problem that provokes their child to evil before making a verdict and taking measures.
There is no need to measure the behavior of little ones by adult standards and expect from them conscious obedience as is accepted at the age of majority. A child should be a child both in their behavior and in the eyes of parents, and they need to be judged not by years, but by intellect and characteristics that are inherent to the stage of their development. Some children mature and understand everything quickly, while others need more time to learn simple rules and develop good habits.
It is important to check the child's vision and make sure it is normal and they can distinguish colors. A little one cannot tell you that they see poorly. They simply have nothing to compare this with, and parents may decide that they deliberately do not orient themselves in space and do not pay attention to many things.
Our world is full of all kinds of diseases both spiritual and physical. Check your children with specialists for mental and emotional stability and integrity. It is possible that they have congenital deviations from the norm, and these are special children who require special treatment. You should not expect from them what is customarily expected.
Unfortunately, many children inherit the consequences of sins of their predecessors and occult connections of their ancestors to the third and fourth generation. The enemy of souls can demand payment for his services from parents and their descendants. Faith in Jesus and prayer of renunciation destroys this generational curse, but consequences of sin may be passed to children in the form of some disease or physical defect. All this requires a special approach in upbringing and wisdom.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Psalm 50:7; Genesis 4:6-7; 8:21; Romans 3:23; Galatians 5:17-18; Colossians 3:21; Exodus 20:5; Proverbs 1:8; 12:15; 15:1; 16:32; 17:6; 19:18; Job 5:17; James 1:17, in light of this lesson. What other verses from the Bible came to your memory? What did you understand from this lesson? What is fleshly nature? How does the influence of fleshly nature manifest in a person? Why can't children always distinguish good from evil? Where do children get examples of bad behavior from? What is the difference between sinfulness and vice? What is vice in the context of child behavior? How does hormonal dependence form in children using the example of sweets? Why is it important to control the consumption of artificial sweets at an early age? What typical manifestations of bad behavior are characteristic of small children? What factors can become the cause of a child's disobedience? Why shouldn't children's behavior be measured by adult standards?