Joey & Carla Link
January 28, 2026
Do your kids know the right thing they should do? If your kids don’t know the right thing to do, they can’t tell Satan to get off their backs and leave them alone. Kids under 5 yrs. of age obviously don’t have the maturity or understanding to know who Satan is and the influence he has on us all, or what to do about it. They also don’t have the maturity to understand why something is right and why something is wrong to think or do.
Parents are always the way of escape for young children. They have to do their thinking for them until they are old enough and mature enough to do it for themselves. Don’t allow your young children to be tempted when they don’t have the maturity or know how to make the right choice. In our book, Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think we talk about our daughter Amy when she was 2-years old. I had magnetic photo albums on the bottom shelf of our bookshelf and she would get to them when no one was watching and pull pictures out, scrunch them to her cheek saying, “love Mommy,” “love Daddy”. It didn’t matter how many corrections she got, she still got into the albums every single day. When my mom told me she thought I was expecting her to do something she couldn’t resist the temptation to do, I moved the albums to a place she could not reach. Putting them on the higher shelf was the way of escape I gave her.
Parents, it is your job to stand in front of your young children and pave the way for them, eliminating temptation in their path. It is your responsibility to protect them by keeping them out of situations where they are not able to keep themselves under control because they are not mature enough yet to handle them. At home, when your kids are playing with their small blocks, it is smart for Mom to put her toddler in the playpen so he will not try to interrupt his siblings play or eat the blocks. It should not be the siblings’ job to keep a toddler away from their toys. This is how Mom eliminates temptation for her toddler and gives him a way of escape that works for everyone in the family.
If your young child is cranky because he is tired, his way of escape is sleep. If this is a chronic problem, the offender is you, not the child. Young children do better with structure and routine in their day. Having a good, consistent routine in place will eliminate a lot of temptation your young kids could face. (See Mom’s Notes presentations on “Structuring Your Child’s Day, Part 1 and Part 2”)
If your young child won’t stay where you put him, he has too many freedoms, and it is up to the parents to put boundaries in place to rein him/her in. Playpen Time, Blanket Time, and Room Time are great for young kids. When one of our grandsons was around 18 months old, our daughter-in-law had to get a tire on their car repaired and she had quite the wait at the repair shop. She put our grandson on a blanket, as she had worked with him on Blanket Time for quite a while. He stayed on that blanket and played with the toys she gave him for over an hour! She took him for a walk and pulled him on her lap to read to him, but when those were done, back on the blanket he went. People were amazed. Putting boundaries in place is a great “temptation escape”. (See Mom’s Notes presentation “Understanding the Funnel”) Think of the funnel as a fence that keeps your kids’ behaviors corralled.
The behaviors that belong inside a child’s “funnel” are those they aren’t old enough to manage on their own or they won’t manage them even if they are old enough. When visiting us, one of our granddaughters, then 4 yrs. old liked to ride on my exercise bike. She knows she has to ask permission before she gets on the bike. Even though I am right there, she often got on it then waited to see what I was going to do. Asking permission to do something is a way of escape for children because if you give it, you are responsible for what they do. The problem is too many parents don’t require their kids to ask them for permission, so parents turn to yelling or negatively getting on them instead.
I told my granddaughter to get off the bike and go sit and fold her hands to get self-control. When she was ready to apologize, I asked her how often I said “No” when she asked me to ride it. She told me I never say “No”. I asked her why she had to ask permission and she told me it is in case she falls off I will be there to help her. I reminded her if she had asked, she would be riding the bike and not sitting with her hands folded and no freedoms, and because she didn’t ask, she lost the privilege of riding the bike the rest of that day.
Did you notice that this conversation was controlled by my questions to her? Asking questions is the quickest and most effective way to get to your child’s heart and make him/her think about what he is doing.
The next day my granddaughter asked me for permission to ride the bike. I told her she could ride it. When she was on it, I asked her why she asked for permission this time and she told me it was because she wanted to ride it instead of losing the freedom to ride it at all that day, and she knew I would say “yes”.
Understanding your need to be your young kids “way of escape”, having a good, consistent routine at home, putting boundaries in place like Blanket Time and having them ask for permission for what they want are all good, proactive things to have in your home to help your little ones do the right thing before they understand why they need to.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
“Structuring Your Child’s Day, Part 1” and “Structuring Your Child’s Day, Part 2” – To structure your child’s day is to provide a routine for family living. Part 1 discusses the four areas in every mom’s life that would be more efficient with a routine. Ideas for managing the home and chores are given. Part 2 looks at ways to add structure and routine to your children’s day which will help develop their character as well. This series shares how to have a routine with kids of all ages.
“Understanding the Funnel” – This presentation gives understanding of the concept of the funnel, which is putting boundaries around your kids that are age-appropriate and to help them manage behaviors appropriately. It includes guidelines for getting your child back into his/her funnel, evaluating how to deal with freedoms, choices, and how to correct for “funnel issues.”
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