Everybody has a Big Baby living inside them. If you don’t parent that big baby he/she will take over like the worst bully you ever saw! Guys since I’m a girl I’m going to use “her” from now on so please don’t get offended. Just remember that Big Baby does live inside you too and he needs parenting.
What are the needs of Big Baby? 1. To be loved and appreciated. 2. To feel secure. 3. To have purpose. But her biggest problem is she makes emotionally based decisions instead of principally based decisions. A perfect example from my last blog about cleaning a party trashed living room is that your Big Baby started kicking and screaming that she couldn’t do it! She was too tired. She would get it later. She did didn’t she? Well, that’s when the adult in you has to take Baby’s hand and say, “Come on, honey, I’ll help you.” That’s also why you tell her/ yourself how proud you are of her/ yourself. Sounds silly doesn’t it? But try it and you’ll find it works! Another trick that helps is always do the worst job first, the one Big Baby hates. After that’s done the rest are easy and Baby will get on your team and you both will feel good! Now, don’t get crazy! I’m not saying that everyone is schizophrenic, but we all have areas we haven’t fully matured in so the mature parts have to help the immature parts. Happy Parenting!
DR. MELODIE STERRETT
Born in to a pastor’s family which began to travel as a non-denominational evangelistic team when she was five, Dr. Melodie Sterrett is well experienced in ministry. Being also actively involved in the starting and running of two ranch style summer camps with her family gave her many encounters with meeting the physical and spiritual needs of large groups of people of various ages. Her family had a strong musical bent and with a name like Melodie it was inevitable that she joined in on the platform singing at age five and later adding her electric bass guitar. She carried on her musical interest through choirs and trios in high school and college and directed musicals for the summer camp programs for fifteen years. Other areas of experience include: Conference food service director, trailride and horsemanship instructor, camp and college nurse, administrative consultant, and office manager.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing, her master’s degree in ministry and her doctorate in Biblical counseling. But much of what she learned about parenting came from the needs of parents who shared their problems with her family during her growing-up years, and later her experiences with two special-needs adopted sons. All of this has resulted in her becoming an author of two books, a youth, marriage, and family counselor, a discipleship college teacher, and a warm and down to earth speaker who can relate to real people and real problems.
Being the wife of Dr. Lew Sterrett of Sermon On The Mount, Inc. continues to keep her traveling and ministering to a variety of groups. When she is home she delights in her three grandchildren whom she calls her “precious gems”. She also claims two more who live in Russia, children of a heart-adopted son and daughter-in-law.