{"id":1208,"date":"2011-05-29T23:09:51","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T06:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/?p=1208"},"modified":"2024-07-22T07:13:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T13:13:17","slug":"i-cant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/i-cant","title":{"rendered":"“I can’t”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the short 3 years that I’ve been a parent I’ve discovered that I absolutely abhor the phrase “I can’t”. I wonder how many times I tortured my parents with this phrase?<\/p>\n

My distaste for this phrase has 2 flavors:
\n1. When I’ve asked my children to do something that might be a small stretch for them but I know is within their cognitive, emotional, and physical capability to do. If their response is an immediate “I can’t” followed by a fit, I start to lose my patience. I want to see them\u00a0try<\/strong><\/em>. I have absolutely no problem helping my children if I see that they have made an effort.<\/p>\n

2. When I’ve asked my children to do something that I’ve seen them do before time and time again, and yet their response is “I can’t” followed by a fit, my patience is gone immediately. This response is selfish, lazy, inconsiderate, juvenile, ‘me me me’, serve me.<\/p>\n

Parents instinctively want to see their children succeed and grow, become more and more responsible, self sufficient, able to make good choices. Parents are typically more knowledgeable about what their children are capable of than the children. Often times children will pick up on this nurturing and thrive on it, to the point of impressing their parents, not just meeting their expectations. But sometimes kids have a bad day, brought on by any number of things (insufficient sleep being the most common offender).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I don’t think this behavior is limited to small children. Funny how we sometimes slip back into old patterns, or need a little extra attention, or pampering, or recognition, or hand holding. \u00a0 I know that God is infinitely more patient with me than I am with my children, but I imagine the high hopes he has for us are also infinitely greater than mine too. \u00a0We may not use the same words or kick and and scream on the floor, but oh how it must grieve God every time we say “I can’t” in our own way. <\/strong>God knows that we can, and God has given us everything we need to do the work he has appropriated for us!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Philippians 4:13\u00a0(New Living Translation)<\/h2>\n
\n

13<\/sup> For I can do everything through Christ,[a<\/a>]<\/sup> who gives me strength.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you have to say about that? \u00a0No excuses or tantrums allowed, just call on the name of Jesus and do it!<\/p>\n

-Nate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the short 3 years that I’ve been a parent I’ve discovered that I absolutely abhor the phrase “I can’t”. I wonder how many times I tortured my parents with this phrase? My distaste for this phrase has 2 flavors: 1. When I’ve asked my children to do something that might be a small stretch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,14,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-foster-care","category-kids","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-14-id","wpcat-7-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p504YJ-ju","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3399,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/speed-parenting","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":0},"title":"Speed Parenting","author":"Becca","date":"January 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The thesis statement for this post should probably be \u201cThe Parallels between fostering and the more traditional parenting\u201d or maybe \u201cThings I\u2019ve Learned from Fostering that I Can Apply to Raising my Own and vice versa\u201d. People often tell us that they couldn\u2019t foster, for whatever reason they\u2019ve decided is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/foster.jpg?fit=600%2C279&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/foster.jpg?fit=600%2C279&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/foster.jpg?fit=600%2C279&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5673,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2009\/01\/what-about-the-singles-and-couples-without-children","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":1},"title":"What about the singles and couples without children?","author":"Becca","date":"January 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Sam asked, I figured I better respond, but wanted to do it in a new thread. So here we go . . . First of all, let's establish God's heart on the matter of children. He LOVES them! - He sends them angels - Matthew 18:10 \"See that you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/testimony.jpg?fit=512%2C341&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5675,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2009\/01\/why-is-the-church-getting-old-and-dying","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":2},"title":"Why is the church getting old and dying?","author":"Becca","date":"January 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As I get older (and pay more attention to the things around me) I have realized that this is not just a Lutheran denomination phenomenon. It appears to be happening across the board of the evangelical denominations. The statistics are staggering. Only a small percentage of our youth are retaining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/zion.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/zion.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/zion.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/zion.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/zion.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7145,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/lights-on-lights-off","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":3},"title":"Lights On, Lights Off","author":"Nate","date":"June 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Joel is infatuated with light switches right now. \u00a0Every time we pass by some light switches he wants to stop and play with them to see what they do. \u00a0I can understand the sense of instant gratification he must feel when flipping a switch immediately changes the environment around him,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/faith"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/83-joel.jpg?fit=921%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/83-joel.jpg?fit=921%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/83-joel.jpg?fit=921%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/83-joel.jpg?fit=921%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2423,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/the-aftershocks","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":4},"title":"The Aftershock(s)","author":"Becca","date":"September 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, the subconscious human mind really surprises me (or at least mine does). I really was doing pretty good after the miscarriage as I said in my last post on the subject. We had our appointment with my OB and he didn't say anything we weren't prepared for. We did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8347,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/tape","url_meta":{"origin":1208,"position":5},"title":"Tape","author":"Becca","date":"February 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've decided the most annoying thing in the world is trying to fix the roll of tape after the kids have let it fall off the dispenser. . . Nate has much more patience for this than me. Throwing whole thing away!","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27473,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions\/27473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}