Wife, Then Mama

Little Guy and I took a bit of a break from Mother Goose Time when Baby Girl came into our home.  She was brand new, and I had another baby at the time and we were not getting anything done school wise, so I wasn't doing well blogging.  I was generously offered maternity leave, which was great!  I love Mother Goose Time, and am really excited to be back to using it.  While Little Guy is great at his workbooks and flash cards, I know that he really enjoys the hands-on, learn through play model that Mother Goose Time uses.  I firmly believe that you should teach a child in a multitude of ways, so he learns to be a good learner, no matter what teaching style someone might have.  Plus arts and crafts are fun!  This month our theme is Nursery Rhymes.  I love nursery rhymes, and Little Guy probably knows most of them already, but I know we are both going to enjoy doing related activities.  We also have a new "student", a two year old litt...

When I am teaching my son to obey, right away, all the way, and in a pleasant way, there are three reasons for it: Honestly, it makes my life a lot easier if I don't have to try to convince him to do what I want him to do.  It also makes his life easier because he knows that he doesn't need to fight me on things, he just needs to do them. I feel that I am training him to obey God as I train him to obey Michael and I.  Now don't take that the wrong way.  I am well aware that I am as far from being God as everyone else.  But first of all, Ephesians 6:1 tells children to obey their parents, so by requiring Little Guy to obey me, I am helping him follow the one commandment that God gives specifically to children.  Secondly, I am trying to teach him a lifelong habit of obedience.  Our lives are usually much more joyful when we are obeying God than when we are trying to do our own thing. It is good training for when he is an employee.  No one wants ...

Yesterday I talked about the first piece of essential advice for parents: Being Consistent .  Today I am going to give you my second piece of advice.  Do NOT be emotional when disciplining.  This one is oh so hard, at least for me.  I am an emotional person, and I love my son so much it is really easy for me to get incredibly emotionally involved.  Why are emotions detrimental to the discipline process?  I don't know for sure.  I have a couple of ideas though, which of course, I will share here. It undermines your authority.  When you are yelling and ranting at your children, or crying about their behavior it does two things. It gives them power over your behavior.  Power is addictive.  They don't consciously understand this, at least not when they are little, but they do know that if they push the right buttons you end up reacting, and for some children that is reason enough to push the buttons. It doesn't provide an exampl...

I read a lot.  A large percentage of what I read is parenting books.  I am not sure why, because I can't possibly remember everything I read, and often times they give conflicting advice.  Plus, I rarely implement any of the ideas they give me, other than just reminding me to get back or stay on track with the things I know I should be doing.  I am too forgetful to do elaborate charts, plus Michael gets rather irritated when I come up with creative or detailed discipline plans.  He prefers the straightforward approach, which makes sense because it is simpler.  But I long to be the perfect mother, who strikes the ultimate balance between strict and affectionate, demanding and affirming, etc., so I continue to educate myself in the art/science of mothering. There are two pieces of advice that I think should be at the front of every parent's mind when their children are acting up.  In my opinion, it doesn't matter your religion or parenting style (...

So far, my Catechism teaching hasn't been going super.  Christmas is a really busy time to try to start something new, and two of the last 3 Sundays were holidays, so we have been failing a little bit.  However, for those of you that have memorized the first list, I have the next week's list.  I only made the traditional answers version, because I have given up on having Little Guy learn it in full sentences.  It flows better and is easier to memorize in the traditional wording, than in my fancy full sentences. Week Two Catechism