God loves brats!
I came across this list of what another parent had learned . . .
1) There is no such thing as child proofing your home.
2) Baseballs make marks on the ceiling.
3) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on.
4) A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
5) The glass in windows, even double pane ones, is not strong enough to stop a baseball that has been hit by a ceiling fan.
6) When you hear the toilet flush and the words “Uh-oh”, it’s already too late.
7) A six year old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a thirty six year old man says they can only do that in the movies.
8) If you use a waterbed as home plate while wearing baseball shoes, it does not leak – it explodes.
9) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 square foot house 4 inches deep
Mom & Dad, did you know that one child just looking at another sibling can be a criminal offense?
Characteristics of a Brat:
Bossy (My way or the highway!)
Respect-less (toward any authority)
Attitude (with a capital “A”)
Temper Tantrums
Some Bratz in the Bible
Absalom, son of David, plotted against his father to take away the throne. Jacob was a mama’s boy brat. He was deceptive, cagey. Joseph, favored son of Jacob, bragged to his father and brothers. He was a proud, spoiled brat.
Pretty Boy, Samson, was a spoiled, smart-aleck brat. He was born to a fine, godly couple. While the rest of the their hometown of Zorah live d pretty much like the devil, Manoah and his wife were faithful followers of the Lord. Even though they lived right there was one thing missing from their lives: They had no children.
Then the angel came to give the great news that they would soon have a son. Unlike you and I who did not receive instructions with the birth of our children, Mr. & Mrs. Manoah were told three things that they must make sure that their son did not do:
1) He was not to eat or drink anything that grew on the vine
2) He was not to cut his hair
3) He was not to touch anything that had died
As successful parents Mr. and Mrs. Manoah were not only to enjoy the privilege of being parents but they were to undertake a great responsibility to guide and direct their child toward God’s intended life and calling.
Mr. & Mrs. Manoah loved their son. He was their sunshine! In fact that is what “Samson” means: sunshine! He made them happy when skies were gray. His parents spoiled and overindulged Samson. They may have told him no but they did not follow through with the instructions given.
Judges 14:1-3
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.
2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
3 His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one for me."
(NIV)
Being a Brat will always bring you down.
Judges 14:1-7
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.
2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
3 His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one for me."
4 (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.
6 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.
7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
(NIV)
Timnah was in Philistine territory, about four miles down a ridge from Samson’s village of Zorah. But this also tells us about the decline in Samson’s spiritual life. In his first public act, he leaves the land of Israel for the land of the Philistines. To put it bluntly, Samson left God’s people and headed south spiritually. Don’t dismiss this as simply a geographic description. Brattiness will always take you down.
Samson has always gotten what he wanted. He’s a spoiled brat who when he sees something he wants, he gets it! He saw this heathen woman and he “liked her”. He is a man motivated purely by physical appearance. He saw this young woman, she looked good, and now he wants her for his wife. Samson was looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing for the wrong reason.
Brats blow off their parents.
Judges 14:3
3 His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one for me."
(NIV)
When Samson’s parents confronted him with why he should not take a wife from the heathens, Samson blew them off! He demanded that they get what he wanted!
Children are masters at manipulation.
Brats blow off their parents in order to manipulate them.
When your children do that, when they become defiant, what do you do? Your child has copped an attitude! What will you do about it? Sport a ‘tude yourself? Yell louder than your child? (I’m not sure you can without hurting yourself!) Do you use threats? Who is really in charge when the kid cops an attitude?
Attitude is the window into our head and heart!
What you or your child thinks about yourself – how you view yourself and what happens to you – speaks loudly through your behavior. Your attitude is displayed through your behavior and that behavior continued long enough becomes your character.
The Apostle Paul says this about people in the last days:
2 Timothy 3:2-5
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy,
3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Have nothing to do with them.
(NIV)
Parents, what if you did that to your brat: “Have nothing to do with them”? In other words, as Dr. Kevin Leman says:
Tell your child once,
Turn your back,
Walk away.
Children need to be taught that they must be accountable, there will be consequences for actions, and that you mean what you say. Here’s why:
Brats take their parents down with them.
Judges 14:5
5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. (NIV)
Judges 14:10
10 Now his father went down to see the woman. (NIV)
Did you see that? Samson’s parents obeyed their son completely! Mr. & Mrs. Manoah bowed down to the brat.
How can you break a brat out of being a brat?
The Brat must be brought down.
How to bring down the Brat:
1) Refuse to rescue the brat from failed responsibility.
Samson continued bratty behavior:
He mocked his wedding guests, his wife, her family, her hometown. His parents remained uninvolved. They even let him come back home for a while.
Don’t do what Mr, & Mrs. Manoah did. Refuse to rescue the brat! Make the brat be responsible.
Dr. Leman says:
“If your son is supposed to do a project for chemistry and doesn’t complete it, don’t do it for him. Let reality teach him responsibility
2) Respond rather than react.
3) B doesn’t come before A
For Samson, it took a whinning woman, Delilah. She was Sampson’s Kryptonite, his weakness. In fact her name means “weakness”.
Brats who boast become like Samson:
One of the saddest verses in the Bible is Judges 16:20. It is what happens if the brat is allowed to grow up and become a monster.
Judges 16:20
20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I’ll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
(NIV)
