In this special Mother’s Day episode of the Upside-Down Parenting Podcast, Matt Jones and Janel Greig sit down with Cat Jones to explore what it really means to be a ‘good mom’ in God’s upside-down Kingdom.
In a culture that pushes performance, comparison, and perfection, this conversation invites moms into something radically different—faithfulness, surrender, and trust. Cat shares honestly from her own motherhood journey, offering wisdom, encouragement, and practical insight for moms in every season—from sleepless nights to launching young adults.
Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, or just trying to keep up, this episode is a reminder that God has already equipped you for the role he’s called you to.
In this episode, we cover:
*Redefining what success looks like for a Kingdom-focused mom
*Why surrender matters more than striving
*Letting go of comparison and embracing faithfulness
*Choosing presence over perfection
*Trusting God through every stage of motherhood
Motherhood isn’t about getting everything right—it’s about walking faithfully with God in the moments that matter most.
If this episode encouraged you, share it with a mom who needs to hear it this Mother’s Day 💛
Episode 42: Summary & Transcript
Disclaimer: Please note that this is an automatically generated transcript. Although the transcription is largely accurate, it may be incomplete or inaccurate in some cases due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
Episode Summary
In this Mother’s Day episode of the Upside Down Parenting Podcast, Matt and Janel talk with Matt’s wife, Cathy (“Cat”) Jones about an “upside down” approach to celebrating moms by empowering kids to honor their mother in simple, intentional ways rooted in their family vision to love God, love others, and make disciples. Cat also shares how God has shaped her view of being a “good mom,” the role of the Holy Spirit in overwhelming seasons, and practical rhythms and discipline approaches she and Matt use to shepherd their children’s hearts rather than just their behavior.
Episode Transcript
Dr. Matt Jones (00:00):
Welcome to the Upside Down Parenting Podcast. Today, we honor mothers in preparation for Mother’s Day. And of course, Mother’s Day is more than a celebration. It’s an opportunity to reflect on countless sacrifices and blessings that come from not only being, but also having a mom. Whether you’re navigating sleepless nights with a newborn, working middle schoolers through the importance of personal hygiene or guiding a teenager through relational and vocational challenges, this conversation is for you because our guest today has been through all three of those phases.
And today, as you can see, we get to hear from my awesome wife, my partner in parenting, and my best buddy, Cathy Jones, and we call her Cat. Cat, welcome. Thanks for joining us today.
Cat Jones (00:48):
Thank you so much. It’s great to be here.
Dr. Matt Jones (00:51):
So if you’ve been listening to our podcast, you know that Cat and I work together to try to live out this upside down parenting kingdom priorities pursuit. And what you may not know is that Cat is the glue that holds our family together with her strength, prayers, patience, humor, and love that only she can provide.
We are so grateful that you joined us today, Cat, and we look forward to your insights and wisdom on being a mom who prioritizes an upside down parenting approach. Janel, now you’re going to get some real insight today into the insanity that helps us make it through a day-to-day, day-to-day approach.
Janel Greig (01:30):
I’m so excited to have you here, Cat. Thank you for taking the time to join us and for our listeners to hear and glean from you too. I’m just excited for our time together.
Dr. Matt Jones (01:38):
Well, let’s start out with an upside down approach to Mother’s Day. And this is actually something, Cat, that you taught me with the question, what do you think of Mother’s Day and how our family approaches it?
Cat Jones (01:53):
Yeah, this is actually one right from the get- go out of the gate, once we knew that we were going to be blessed with children. I can’t remember the setting. I wish I could. This would be a great story if it was a little more fleshed out. But I remember as Mother’s Day was approaching, Easter was behind us. Mother’s Day was approaching and I could see Matt getting ready. His mind was whirling and we had this, Hannah would’ve just been little.
(02:25):
Well, actually, she may have been starting to walk. I don’t know. But I remember looking at Matt and saying, “I am not your mother.” And the reason I told him that is that I had seen, whether it was in our own families or just in culture in general, that it was the dad that commandeered Mother’s Day. He went out and I mean, I had peers that were getting, I don’t know, what were they getting at that point, Matt? Not iPads, but they were getting these rings and jewelry. And as much as I like the accolades for my husband, which I get frequently, this was a day.
Dr. Matt Jones (03:05):
Oh, did you hear that, Janel? Did you hear that? I’m doing well here.
Janel Greig (03:07):
I am tracking. I’m so tracking. I’m keeping a tally.
Cat Jones (03:12):
That’s it. Just tally those marks and one of us is getting paid at the end of this. But anyway, it was really even from that early moment, I wanted to know that my kids were going to be given the opportunity. And to me, that meant that I had to step up and make that opportunity worthwhile for them.
So generally, I see Mother’s Day as a tad bit commercialized, but I am all about, I’ve got stacks of them somewhere, all of the little construction paper torn out, glued pieces of paper on top of pieces of paper. But what Matt would do is he would corral the kids about, what, I don’t know, a week before, Matt?
Dr. Matt Jones (03:59):
Sometimes a month, depending on what.
Cat Jones (04:02):
Oh, a month.
Dr. Matt Jones (04:02):
Well, yeah, but believe it or not, sometimes a month, depending on what they wanted to do.
Janel Greig (04:07):
There might be another tally.
Dr. Matt Jones (04:09):
That’s right. Another tally. I got two.
Cat Jones (04:12):
But he would put it into their hands and say, “Hey, I’m here to support you. What do you need?” Glue sticks, crayons, papers, whatever. And he would help them celebrate me within their own means. So maybe they’d pull together quarters or whatever. He would always provide dinner away from the house. So that was kind of his contribution to it, but it was never, we weren’t going out to fancy, fancy places, but just something that sent the message to the kids that, “Hey, this is a day that we bless your mom.” And part of that is she’s not in the kitchen.
So definitely right from the get-go, a different idea maybe that I did not, I am not his mom. He has his mom. He loves her to death and wanted to make it clear from that point that somehow he was going to have to figure out getting these little ones to see what they could do to honor and acknowledge on that day.
Dr. Matt Jones (05:15):
And now, Janel, I don’t have to do anything on Mother’s Day. It’s awesome. We trained them for 18 years.
Janel Greig (05:21):
But it is. It’s the rhythm, right? You’re putting that and it’s cool to see that you’re teaching them to be appreciative and grateful and recognize that on their own. So I love that. And it is so upside down for what the world tells us. It’s beautiful.
Cat Jones (05:37):
And that’s exactly. And so even as I kind of thought through different questions, questions that I know you may ask, questions that I wonder if you will ask, I challenged myself on the, I was in the car today and I said, “Huh, I wonder if I could answer every single question today with our family vision.” And we’ve talked about this, you guys, I didn’t get a chance to look it up, but people that are new to this podcast are old, you need to track back to, was it in January?
Dr. Matt Jones (06:08):
January.
Cat Jones (06:10):
Right at the beginning of the year, Matt and Janel challenged all of us with, how did you do it? What were our values?
Dr. Matt Jones (06:21):
For our values, yep.
Cat Jones (06:22):
What are our values? And that was something Matt and I worked on early in our marriage in youth ministry was developing a vision for our youth ministry and that tracked into our marriage and then it tracked very quickly into our parenting. And so my challenge to myself is, can I answer every single question today with our vision, which is love God, love others, and make disciples who make disciples.
And that’s the thing with this simple question of, who’s celebrating Mother’s Day? When you put it in the littles hands, they’re learning how to love God. They’re learning how to love their mom. I’m hoping they’re making disciples in this. They’re seeing the outward focus. I’m going to reach out and show mom how I appreciate her. And to me, it was Mother’s Day this morning when Matt put in the group family text, which now includes our son-in-law. Matt, did you give a shout out to Seth yet?
Dr. Matt Jones (07:25):
Not yet. Not yet.
Cat Jones (07:26):
Not yet. Waiting for the moment, huh?
Dr. Matt Jones (07:30):
Anyway, that just lost me a point, Janel. That just lost me a point.
Janel Greig (07:33):
Those are Seth’s tallies. Well, I’ll have him on for a separate one.
Cat Jones (07:37):
We all know we’re waiting for a catch up on this big, big wedding that happened. But the first thing this morning, 6:15, so it wasn’t the first thing for Matt, but probably his first on the phone thing was to put in our group chat, pray for mom today. She’s jumping on the podcast.
And my mother’s day today was seeing the prayer hands come in, seeing the heart. I forget what Kenzie, anyway, whether it was an emoji or a written word or the kids popping outside of the text going, “Mom, we know this is not the easiest thing for you, but we’re with you.” And it’s like, holy cow, they’re doing it. They’re living it.
Janel Greig (08:22):
You guys have modeled that beautifully, clearly. And yes, free will, right? But when the foundation is laid and that intentionality comes in for those rhythms, that’s no greater joy, right? I love that. And thank you for that reference back to, that was episode 25, How to Set a Family Mission, Values and Verse Together, New Year Reset for Christian Parents.
And I personally gleaned so much from you, Cat, and Matt with regards to that. So thankful for the content, the work you guys have done and the willingness to share. It’s exciting. Question for you about parenting. Just in general, what was your “welcome to parenting” moment? What did that look like for you?
Cat Jones (09:06):
This is kind of a three-parter. I was what I consider an older mom when I first had kiddos. So we had a little bit of married life together and we had a little bit of, I had pre-marriage life post-college, so different things that went on in my life. And post-college, I used my degree from the University of Delaware to teach at a private school in the, not Denver Metro, the DC metro area.
And it was, like I said, immediately out of college, my experience in a school getting to see how parents interacted with their kids spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially, not too much technologically at that time, but still, what were they spending their time doing? And one of my takeaways was our school had the option that you could drop your kiddos off at 6:00 in the morning for before care, and you could pick them up as late as 6:00 PM. And I was genuinely shocked. Matt, that would’ve been 1992.
Dr. Matt Jones (10:19):
The 92 or 93, yeah.
Cat Jones (10:22):
1992, the number of parents that took advantage of both ends of the day. So I had first graders who were being dropped off at 6:00 in the morning and picked up at 6:00 PM five days a week. And that right there just kind of was a “welcome to other people parenting” moment and started this foundation of, I don’t want to judge. How am I going to navigate this when given the choice? Matt, you look like you’re about to?
Dr. Matt Jones (10:56):
No, you’re great. No, I would just say you made a really good point when we were talking about this last night, that really the kids were only awake two to three hours after that. And so they only had two to three hours of waking time. I hope I’m not taking away what you’re wanting to say there.
Cat Jones (11:12):
And I, being the great first grade teacher that I was, you had to learn your handwriting. We learned chunks of scripture. We didn’t learn a verse. We learned a chunk. So seriously, these first graders had 30 minutes of homework every night. And so you start taking out 30 minutes for that, 30 minutes for that, 30 minutes for bedtime. McDonald’s was right across the street. We’ll swing into there and eat our McDonald’s in the backseat of the car.
And so it gave me a lot of opportunity to ponder, okay, parenting, what are the choices you may eventually be faced with? And then the second part was when we hit, right when we got married, we did youth ministry in a smaller church in the different mountain country of North Carolina, beautiful area. Shout out to North Carolina.
Dr. Matt Jones (12:07):
Loved living in North Carolina.
Cat Jones (12:09):
Love North Carolina, but that was a different experience because here we were now working with junior high, high school ministry. And a lot of what we did, as long as it was well received, we were good to go. But it seemed like if we tried to enter into certain areas, challenging students, whether it be behavior, whether it be their time in the word, how they were using their free time, it seemed as though if we said something that was contrary to the parenting model that was in play, all of a sudden we weren’t qualified to speak into these things because you don’t have kids.
So all of a sudden, I went from being educated in the early childhood field to wondering, what am I going to do? And then being told, “You’re not qualified. We’re just going to dismiss.” And it was interesting when Tyler was here for a few minutes before this started, he was sharing some things and he prayed and he said something about, “Lord, I’m not a parent.” And then after we got done, I shared this point with him that he has observed good parenting, mediocre parenting and downright stinky parenting sometime just within our home.
(13:37):
And I said, “Tyler, I think you know a lot more about parenting than maybe you give yourself credit for.” And so here we are at that phase. And then my ultimate welcome to parenting moment was 30, I can’t do the math. A month after the doctor looked at us and said, “Matt and Cathy, sorry, you will never have biological children.” And 30 days later, doing an exit ramp and my stomach just took, it kept going on the exit ramp. And I’m like, “What is happening?”
Went to the doctor, found out we were pregnant, and that became the first of what I consider our miracle children. And then however many weeks in, when you get to see on the ultrasound, and I think that was the, wow, the almost alarming welcome to parenting moment. Now, all this stuff that you think you knew and that you were told you couldn’t, here, you’re going to get the opportunity to be a parent to a biological child.
Dr. Matt Jones (14:57):
And I apologize for not helping you with the math. You were making me cry. So Janel, I wish you’d helped us with the math a little bit. Thanks a lot.
Janel Greig (15:04):
I’m not a math person.
Dr. Matt Jones (15:05):
Okay.
Cat Jones (15:07):
We call it pregnancy math too. It’s very confusing.
Janel Greig (15:11):
And now it’s mom brain, right? It never goes away, they say.
Cat Jones (15:14):
Yes, yes.
Janel Greig (15:15):
Man, thank you for sharing that, Cat. And I think that’s also a beautiful example of the miracles that the Lord can do, right? And to have three biological children who you guys were entrusted and continue to be entrusted to, the Lord, but to see where they’re at now and what your parenting journey has to show for it. That’s incredible. Incredible.
You referenced, well, the long days, but also what it makes a good mom. And I think early for me in my mommy stages, I do remember the comparison game as we’re figuring out in my mommy’s groups, well, what are they doing? What am I doing? And I think that is emphasized in today’s world with social media and the platforms that are right in front of us all the time. It’s not just when you go to the church for your mommy’s group, it’s everywhere. As a seasoned mom, how has God redefined for you what actually makes a “good mom”?
Cat Jones (16:16):
Yeah. And I really like that you, because I think you and I, our kids are kind of on that older stage, middle school and up for you. Yep, middle school and up. So we go from middle school up to age 22, I think, between the two of us.
Dr. Matt Jones (16:34):
Married and 22. Married and 22.
Cat Jones (16:36):
Very married. It’s interesting. We’re navigating that right now. What does it mean?
Janel Greig (16:42):
That’s another episode, right?
Cat Jones (16:44):
Okay. We’ll move right past that. But I do appreciate you and I, I think, had our kids in the mommys’ groups. For me, it was moms. That’s still my dream, is to be a mentor mom that, what a neat thing. But I do. I remember sitting around the table and oh wow, she’s holding her baby that way and her baby’s not crying. Her baby’s sleeping in public. Hannah wanted to be involved in everything. That child, she was like an ironing board, as straight as a stick, didn’t want to cuddle, wanted to be the life of the party.
So I’m sitting around my group of eight and thinking, wow, that child’s sleeping. Wow, that mom is. So that was how we experienced it. Now I feel like it’s on steroids with social media. I did a little test the other day scrolling through Pinterest and I clocked it yesterday and I started to write down the titles and then I thought, no, I’ll just kind of go with my gut here.
(17:49):
But in no less than five minutes, I probably had four different ideas on, you can do this in parenting, you can do that in parenting, all the questions. And so my first, I think just having to figure out, you can’t ignore it. You got to have a plan. You can’t just say, “Well, I’ll just ignore it.” I just don’t think we’re wired that way as women and as moms. We have hormones that just say, “Come and get me,” sometimes. Just weigh me down, tear me down.
(18:29):
But a question I came up with in my heart was, where is the noise coming from? I think it was very important for me to recognize where the noise came from for me and being able to define that. And so recognizing it and then how do I turn that noise down?
And so for today, my guess is you’ve got to put the phone away. You’ve got to decide how much of the noise that is putting me in that comparison zone, that performance. Is it coming from my phone? Is it coming from my computer? Is it coming from the books, the podcast, not the upside down parenting podcast because we are on fire here.
Dr. Matt Jones (19:20):
All right.That’s a mark for you.
Cat Jones (19:23):
That tally mark right there. There you go. The producer is keeping track of those right now. But again, identifying where the noise is coming from and then taking that next step, how am I going to turn it down? And for me, also, who’s coming up with the definition of parenting or a good mom? I think you used the phrase good mom. I think I used it also. Who gets to decide today, tomorrow, next week, last year, it’s a moving target.
And there are so many voices involved in the discussion of what a good mom is. And that does tend to break me at different points. Even looking at, well, what do I have to offer to your audience? Do I really have anything significant to say? Because I’m listening to the wrong definition of what a good mom is. I know with Matt and I, we’re developing new vocabulary through the journey of parenting.
(20:35):
Right now, my favorite word, and I thought it was new and whatever, and you find out, no, you’re not as smart as you think you are. But about a year ago, I was like, “We’re launching our kids.” That’s my word now, launching. I don’t know if I’m launching, dropping them out of the nest, hurling them over the wall, but launching became really popular for us.
And I know that’s out there now and I’m sure it’s being misused in some ways, but allowing God to redefine and not allowing social media, I love reading books, not allowing the books and their message. But again, love God, love others, make disciples. Is that where I’m getting my definition of how I’m to be a good mom? And what that looks like every day, filtering. Go for it. Filtering through that. I love that.
Dr. Matt Jones (21:30):
That’s cool. All right. We’re going to throw in a speed round. So this was not, we’ll throw this out. You try to make your answers as short as possible. All right. You ready? Okay. Tea or coffee?
Cat Jones (21:44):
Coffee, but it’s supposed to be tea, according to my preferred method of eating.
Dr. Matt Jones (21:49):
All right. One word that describes motherhood for you right now.
Cat Jones (21:54):
Oh, joyful came first and then challenging came second.
Dr. Matt Jones (21:58):
Okay, cool. Favorite Christian book you’ve read recently?
Cat Jones (22:02):
Favorite Christian book. Currently, I’m reading… Matt, what’s that book called?
Dr. Matt Jones (22:10):
Is it Single?
Cat Jones (22:12):
Oh yeah, that’s a good one. That’s a good one. The Single Dating, Engaged, Married. That’s a very popular book that’s out there right now that even gave us, Matt, and I’ll do a little bit of work with Summit or the summer on dating and marriage. And that’s given me some more concise verbiage. But no, the Islam book.
Dr. Matt Jones (22:38):
Oh, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Yeah. Cool. That’s a great one.
Cat Jones (22:42):
So, so readable.
Dr. Matt Jones (22:44):
Good. One word your kids would use to describe you. And I’ll allow you Hannah, Tyler, and Kenzie.
Cat Jones (22:52):
Oh, that gets too complicated. My one word.
Dr. Matt Jones (22:54):
Okay, just one word. Okay. All right.
Cat Jones (22:57):
Constant.
Dr. Matt Jones (22:59):
Constant. I love that. All right, cool. And then one upside down value you’re trying to teach your kids.
Cat Jones (23:07):
Let’s go with, if you are a two-parent home, one of you can stay home with your kiddos. That’s a hard one. I know there’s a lot that can go along with that, that makes it challenging and not possible in some circumstances, but I love having that conversation with people. It is possible to have one of you at home.
Dr. Matt Jones (23:32):
That’s great.
Cat Jones (23:33):
And available.
Janel Greig (23:35):
Cat, how about this? For younger moms just starting out or the ones that are in the thick of those toddler or even teen years, what is a piece of biblical truth or practical habit, maybe one of each, that has anchored you when motherhood has felt overwhelming?
Cat Jones (23:54):
Yeah. That one, I just don’t even have to think twice. It’s the understanding of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my life, in my husband’s life. And as each of our kids has placed their faith in Jesus, knowing that that Holy Spirit indwells each of them, we don’t have to figure out all of the things. I actually, I pulled up my Bible, sitting right here, and if I could read that verse real quick.
Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” That list was such a strong source of strength.
(25:14):
I even think of crutches. When you’re not supposed to bear your own weight, you allow the crutches to hold you up. And I look at each of those. I mean, when we look at gentleness, self-control, don’t we want those as a mom? And I don’t have to figure, it’s not me. It’s knowing that it’s there already. I need to receive it, use it, let it come out of me. And I know the diaper bag, the airport where you ran out of diapers. We had that. We had that. I cried. I cried in front of the flight attendant or the ticket counter.
Dr. Matt Jones (26:04):
The ticket counter. Yeah.
Cat Jones (26:05):
“You can’t say we can’t get a flight tonight because she just used up her last diaper.” I’ve been there. I know that the challenge to lose your self-control, to not be gentle. And knowing that I don’t have to depend on myself to have those things, they are already there if I have placed my faith in Jesus and if I’ve called in my Lord and my savior. And that just excites me so much.
I think, did you ask for biblical truth and daily habits in that? Yeah. As much as it was possible, I tried to do this and I would encourage this to those young moms that are navigating all of it right now. I tried really hard to have a plan before the day started. So maybe on the weekend, Matt took the kids off to get dodos, which are donuts.
Janel Greig (27:15):
That’s another tally.
Cat Jones (27:20):
He would take the kids and get donuts and do the grocery shopping. So maybe during that time, I’d get my act together. What are we going to do this week? What are we going to do to get outside, to read, to do some art? And so for the most part, before I went to bed, I knew the next day what we were going to do.
And I got up and I made my bed and I got my day going. I put my clothes on. There were pajama days for the kids, but I don’t remember there being pajama days for me. That was, I put on my uniform. I put on my uniform and I went to work with my schedule. And I didn’t homeschool our kids. They did public school. So I’m not talking about having your homeschool. I’m talking about, do you have Play-Doh in the cupboard?
(28:15):
Do you know what you’re feeding them? Are you going to eat all green vegetables this week because you’re learning the color green? Know that no. My kids don’t know the color green because we weren’t allowed to eat green vegetables. So even as those little babies, you had a plan. And for me, and I think this would be a challenge for me. So I speak this very gently and carefully.
For me, I did not allow myself to watch TV during the day. And that was a common thing for stay-at-home moms in my generation or where we lived or whatever reason. That was a common thing. I know the challenge, the equivalent would be, could I be a mom and parent my kids during the day and keep my phone on the charger and maybe only look at it. My new challenge to myself is look at your phone on the hour every hour, but try not to before then. Nobody needs me that badly.
Janel Greig (29:19):
Yep. That’s great tips, Cat. I appreciate that so much. I got to ask one more question because you’re married to Matt, so I have to ask this one. What’s a fun or even challenging way your marriage and parenting partnership has reflected the upside down principles of parenting?
Cat Jones (29:40):
So this is what’s super fun. I don’t know if your audience knows that they can actually log on and watch you guys while you do the podcast. And I don’t know if you want them to know that, but the secret’s out now. As you were asking that question, I don’t try to read Matt’s expressions too often because sometimes I get them wildly wrong. But right now it looked like he was like, “Oh no, this woman has control now. She could say what she wants to.”
Dr. Matt Jones (30:12):
I trust you. And even if it’s, “Hey, he’s blowing it in some areas.’ We can handle that. That’s good for people to hear because I do.
Cat Jones (30:21):
What I love is what you see is mostly what you get with Matt. There’s not a lot of hidden emotions. When he’s out there and having fun and just laughing and making the jokes in between the podcast recordings, and you’re just kind of like, “Whoa, that is who he is.” He is also incredibly black and white, which I lived prior to coming to know Christ at age 18, I lived a very gray life. A very “I can rationalize, justify, and cheat my way through almost anything.”
And so very difficult to be married to someone who is black and white, but also an incredible blessing. And so what I was thinking of when you said that, when you said, “What is that like? Share with the audience.” I think one of the really neat things, and he may have shared this already, but we took discipline with our kids pretty seriously.
(31:31):
And if we could clock, if we could roll up a clock at the end of our days and see how much time we spent talking about how we were going to follow through on something that our kids did or didn’t do, whether they were disrespectful to us or to a neighbor or heaven forbid they stole something or each one of them has had a significant misstep with technology that we had to navigate with them.
So the hours that we have spent doing that, but the exciting thing was Matt brings so much Bible knowledge and depth to the table, but more than that, he has, and I don’t know what you call this, but he has the ability to see the foundation of what was happening when one of our kids or young adults was experiencing a certain thing. So I’d be kind of on the top layer thinking, “Wow, they just reacted and they did this thing.”
(32:37):
And I’m actually kind of ticked off that they did this. I can’t believe this. And then we would start, he and I would start the conversation, where did this come from? What’s the root of it? Is this an issue of pride? Is this selfishness? What are they crying out for? What’s the bottom line here? And still is. We just do it less frequently now, but it was such a joy parenting with me being able to explain, “Okay, this is what happened when you were at work.”
He’d ask some questions, he’d ask the kiddo some questions, and then he could come up with what was going on in their heart and kind of check in, “Kiddo, is this maybe what you’re struggling with?” And then he’d lob it back over to me and I would think of a creative way to bring about the discipline, to walk through the consequence.
(33:38):
So our kids were not disciplined the same. And a lot of that had to do with Matt being able to figure out, and I think I’ve gotten a little bit better at it, but being able to identify what’s truly happening here and in their life with their God, what is going on and what can we embrace and help them with and be creative?
And I know, I feel like every one of them at some point or another said, “I think I’d rather you just get a spanking. Can I just get a spanking instead of doing all this talking?” Because we didn’t use that method of discipline for very long. It was short-lived and then it was replaced by more creative walking through of consequences. And I really think that’s what God would want us doing, even in our own lives. Where have I misstepped? What was the root of it? How am I going to get back in a right relationship?
Janel Greig (34:42):
Well, I love the partnership there. And that’s just in marriage, you see that. God brings the different giftings and then we mesh together to hopefully use them for his glory as we parent. Just appreciate that so much, Cat. I also think it’s not just correcting a behavior, right? It’s not just that immediate. It’s being able to, how are we shaping the heart long term for a change and focusing on what the Lord calls us to? So great reflections there. And I am sure our listeners will glean from that.
Cat, thank you so much for being on the show today and sharing with us. It truly has been an absolute treat and blessing to have you here, to share your experience, to share your wisdom, to hear about you and Matt together. And Matt, thank you for sharing Cat with us today.