How can a parent ever live up to the perception by a young child that we are Godlike? None of us can match that expectation!
I know. It's scary, isn't it? I remember being shocked when I realized that my two-year-old son, Ryan, identified me with God. He had watched his mother and me pray before we ate each meal, but he had never been asked to say grace. One day when I was out of town on a business trip, Shirley spontaneously turned to our toddler and asked if he would like to pray before he and his sister ate. The invitation startled him, but he folded his little hands, bowed his head, and said reverently, "I love you, Daddy. Amen."
When I returned home and Shirley told me what had happened, the story unsettled me. I hadn't realized the degree to which Ryan linked me with his "heavenly Father." I wasn't even sure I wanted to stand in those shoes. The job was too big, and I didn't want the responsibility. But I had no choice, nor do you. God has given us the assignment of representing Him during the formative years of parenting. That's why it is so critically important for us to acquaint our kids with God's two predominant natures… His unfathomable love and His justice. If we love our children but permit them to treat us disrespectfully and with disdain, we have distorted their understanding of the Father. On the other hand, if we are rigid disciplinarians who show no love, we have tipped the scales in the other direction. What we teach our children about the Lord is a function, to a significant degree, of how we model love and discipline in our relationship with them.