Hit vs. Kiss

When my daughter started to walk (which was a bit late) and started to explore our very small rented-house, she bumped to the wall, corners or table or other stuffs in our house from time to time. At first, I really get worried and I am the one who almost cried whenever she was hurt. To pacify her, I would ask her to hit the wall or the table or the object which caused the pain. I know that I am not the only one doing this. I've seen several moms doing this on their toddlers. Later on, whenever she would bump to any object and get hurt, she would hit that object.

God made me realized that this is not right. That I am teaching my daughter some kind of revenge . Although, the object she is hitting is non-living, the idea that she can hit the one that hurt her might be instilled in her mind and she might think that hitting others is okay. In doing this, I am not teaching my daughter to be obedient with the Word of God which states that "Vengeance belongeth unto God."

So I change my tactic. Now whenever my daughter bumped to an object, I would ask her to kiss the object and touch the object softly. This is kind of weird for others but I want to instill in my daughter's mind that she should love those who hurt her. I find it effective with my daughter. I also realized that there are inevitable pains that I should allow my daughter to experience.