A change of heart

I've been taking a good advice from a good friend about discipline.  She suggests that don't walk away from the discipline until you see a change of heart/attitude from the child.  So often after I discipline my kids, their attitude remains unchanged even when after they apologized, this indicates a heart that's still hardened.

I've tried this twice already with Noah for the past few days, once today and it seems to be really great.  This morning before school started, I gave the boys time to play and warned them ahead that school was about to start.  Even with their acknowledgment, when the time came for school, Noah still had to complain and whine.  He tried to negotiate for more time to play despite my objection.  I told him if he asked one more time, he would have to go to his room, and of course he did.

After going to his room, he started kicking the door in anger.  I ran upstairs and told him he needed to stay there for 5 more minutes (without touching or playing his toys) until he can cool down and change his attitude.  Not being able to play with his toys made him more angry.  He also didn't want to stay in his room all alone.  However, seeing the poor attitude unchanged, I didn't budge.  I encouraged him to pray to God for help with his anger.  He refused.  I told him that his heart is not ready for change, it's being hardened right now.  He needs to have a soft heart for his attitude to change, so I told him I would go back in a bit.

After 5 minutes, I went upstairs expecting a boy who's still angry at me and would need more time. However, to my surprise, his face was changed.  He looked calm sitting in the corner behind the door.  I asked if he was still angry and he said no.  I put my hand over his heart and said, "your heart isn't hardened anymore, it's soft now".   I then asked him to pray and he did, asking God to help him to have a soft heart and not be angry anymore.  Praise God for this change of heart!

I know that it's going to be continuous process with this, however, every little positive change is great!