Being zealous can be a good thing.  Passion for hobbies and interests can birth great results.  Enthusiastic attitudes can overcome great odds and fervent prayer does more than we’ll ever know.

Parents can be zealous. You know the ones I mean. Helicopter Dad that constantly hovers, or super mom charting every bowel movement, minute of sleep, and morsel of food that enters Junior’s mouth. There really is nothing wrong with this, but it could drive a person crazy if they think this is what all good parents are supposed to do.

Take us, for example. We have three kids and we are trying to do this parenting thing right. We’ve read Bringing Up Boys and Bringing Up Girls. We pray for them, over them and with them. And I suspect we still assume WAY TO MUCH stress over things we should be able to let go.

I could spend hours analyzing. Why did she push her brother? Is he under too much stress? Does she feel able to express herself?  Does he feel safe?

All good questions. But maybe the answer is she pushed her brother because she is six years old and she just wanted her own way. Yes, it can be very helpful to know why. But sometimes we need to deal with the what. She pushed him. She learns a bit more about sin, consequences, and asking forgiveness and he learns about grace, offering forgiveness and starting over.

My New Year resolution is about taking it one day at a time, one situation at a time, one minute at a time. I still want to understand as much as I can about my kids and their motives behind their actions but I’m also going to try to relax a bit more and enjoy them rather than analyze them.

2011 should be interesting…