He Maketh His Sun to Rise

I've said before that the most instructive part of my life is being a parent.  As I try to be a good father, I gain insight on my Heavenly Father, which is important because I'm trying to emulate Him and His Son.

I give a fair amount of thought to how I (and we, including my wife) want to do things.  We have certain rules in the house, of course, and I take a certain attitude toward my kids in which I try to treat them with the same intelligence and respect that I would show to anyone else.  I try to grant my children responsibility for their actions so that they can learn from them.  I try to avoid coercing them.  I try to encourage talking when there's a problem.  I aim to encourage good behavior and not encourage bad behavior.  My wife and I do pretty well with it.  Granted, I'm unfortunately lazy sometimes and with my imperfections I make a host of mistakes, but I have some practices that I've thought through and I want to keep.

I want my children to understand consequences because I want them to know why they should make good choices.  Perhaps, though, imposed consequences are not always the best idea.  Recently I again adjusted my outlook on parenting with the thought that there are going to be certain things that I do for my kids regardless of what they do beforehand.  For example, I want to read to my kids before they go to bed, observe their night-time prayers, and sing to them as they lie down.  Sometimes I've deprived them of the experience because it was late, they took too long getting ready for bed, because their room was messy, or a combination of those reasons.  Really, though, I don't want to deprive them (or myself) of those things.

The thought is mirrored in a scriptural passage that has long been one of my favorites.  In 3 Nephi 12:44-45 (and similarly in Matthew 5:44-45) Jesus is teaching about love and how we can be more like our Father in Heaven: "But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good."

I suppose that's what we call unconditional love.  From what I'm told, that's the kind of love we're supposed to show to our family (and everybody else, too).

Last thoughts for now:
There are still going to be circumstances in my parenting when conditions apply and the kids will miss out on something good because they failed to meet a prerequisite.  I want to show them true love,  though, so that they really know that I love them.  I want them to know that if they "turn away, or disobey, or go astray" ("Teacher, Do You Love Me?" -- Children's Songbook, page 178) I will still love them and be ready to help them just like my Father in Heaven is always there for me no matter how often I make dumb mistakes.  I need to show them that love.  So at bedtime I will make my song to sing for both the kids who are behaving well and the kids who aren't, just as God "maketh His sun to rise".