“Foolishness is firmly attached to a child’s heart” (Proverbs 22:15).
Sometimes when you are in trouble and your parents are frustrated, they might yell, “What were you thinking? Act your age!” Deep down, your parents know the problem is that you are acting your age. Foolishness and silliness are just part of your heart, and sometimes you can’t help yourself.
As children, you have a lot of learning to do. Your brain is still developing; you are still learning how to control your reactions and impulses. One of your parents’ jobs is to help you get the foolishness out of your heart. One of your jobs is to grow up a little more every day.
You learn that there is a right time to have fun and to be silly, and a time when you need to practice self-control and keep your mouth shut. There may be a time to respectfully ask your parents to change their minds and a time to simply say, “Yes, Mom. Yes, Dad.”
This is a lesson that every single person has had to learn. Those that don’t learn may grow up physically, but they don’t grow up mentally. When they don’t learn to respect authority, it is hard for them to get a job and keep a job.
Even Paul, one of God’s chosen apostles, admitted that he was foolish as a child too. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11).
Every day is a chance to grow up a little more.
