Thursday, April 29, 2010

A Working Definition: Self Control and Sensitivity

Working definitions are very helpful in training children how those biblical character traits play out in their daily lives. You can tell your child to use self-control until you are blue in the face, but unless they truly understand and reminded of the meaning a 100 times, they won't really know what you are asking of them.

Here are some working definitions for sensitivity and self-control I read in a parenting newsletter about how to handle it when children are annoying from National Center for Biblical Counseling :


Self-control is the ability to control myself so that Mom and Dad don't have to.

Self-control means to think before I act.

Self-control is the ability to talk about problems instead of grabbing, pushing, or hitting.

Self-control means that I limit the noises I make when others are around.

Self-control means that I focus on one thing until it gets done, before I move to the next.


Sensitivity means that when I walk into a room I look and listen before I speak.

Sensitivity is thinking about how my actions are affecting other people.

Sensitivity means thinking about how I could help someone else.

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