Something To Think About Saturday

Baaad Mama....again!

Dumb....da dumb dumb. I did it again!

This time I receive my own, "Bad Mom" award because I have a big mouth.

Our small, irritating dog, Minnie likes to yipe at everyone and everything. It's annoying so I find myself yelling at her all the time. Not at the top of my lungs or anything, but nevertheless I scold her frequently.

So of course one day I was annoyed at her barking and told her to, "shut up". So now...every time Minnie barks too much, guess who tells her to, "shut up"?? Yep. 23 month old Ava.

I'm such a baaaaad Mama. -sigh-

Brycen-isms

I am raising a comedic crazy boy. Brycen does and says things that crack us all up. It's hard to keep a straight face while telling him that it's not appropriate to squat down with his knees in his shirt and do the, "boobie" dance. Yeah, I'm one proud Mom.


Here are a few things that he has said (2 of them as recently as a day ago) that make me crack-up, yet may be on the inappropriate side (eek!):


1. After coming home from a friends house without eating dinner because he was too busy playing sports, Mom asks why he didn't eat when the rest of the kids did. After all, it had been all day and he hadn't eaten. He replied, "I didn't need to because I'm a MAN." Guess you had to be there for that one.



2. I was sitting at the computer the other day and in walks Brycen. He starts to sniff me all over. I ask him what the heck he is doing. He sniffs me again and says, "I smell a HOT Mama!"



3. Mom showed Brycen the pretty roses on her 7 sisters bush and of course he had to touch the thorns. He exclaimed, "Mother of Pearl! I poked myself!". What kind of kid says - mother of pearl?! According to him, one who watches Sponge Bob.



4. After calling to Brycen asking what he was doing (hadn't seen him in awhile), he called back in an irritated tone saying, "Mom...I'm ta-king a dump!". Gee, I wonder where he got that one from? Hubby's don't always set the best example for their sons do they?





Oh how I love my personal blog giving me the chance to jot down these experiences. It's sooo important to record precious moments like these. They make me feel like the best Mom in the world! (<---insert sarcasm here)

I guess I'm partly to blame. I'm the one who goes around saying that if the kids are lucky, they will be eating poop sandwiches or poop salad for lunch. And then I go on to sing the Poop sing-a-long, sung to the tune of "Fruit Salad", by the Wiggles. Poop salad, yummy yummy. Poop salad, yummy yummy.
Hey, life can't always be serious. There is a time for fun and a time to get down to business. I like to mix it up a little so as to not go totally insane ;)



Now, aren't you glad you read this poop....I mean post today?

Love & Logic worked!

I wish I had a photo of my teenage daughter's face when I pulled a Love & Logic trick on her last night! Ok, so it wasn't a trick. It was more of a "learning experience" for her. Heh heh. She wasn't quickly going to put her things away where they belong, so I pulled the "if I have to do it for you, you have to pay me for my time" trick. I have other things to do you see. If I have to take time out just to clean up that mess, then she has to pay me for my precious time. I don't give her an allowance (trust me, they do have chores though) , so she would have to pay me by doing chores that she normally wouldn't have to do. Such as cleaning out the car, pulling weeds or washing walls. At first I felt some resistance from her...like she really didn't believe that I would actually make her pay!... but then she caught on that I MEANT it. Har har. She quickly did her task rolling her eyes of course. But I don't care about the eye rolling...the task got done and I bet she will think twice before she leaves her junk laying around.

Next trick....my 2 pre-teens were fighting about how dim their night light should be while they sleep at night. Well........this is so sad. Bummer. I'm really tired and if I have to do the compromising for them, then they will have to pay me for my time. They didn't care, so I settled it by putting the lamp as dim as I wanted it to be. Now, of course they had to go to bed just then, so they will be paying me when they get home from school tonight. They will be pulling a few weeds and then picking up trash in our minivan. I'm sure there will be resistance. I won't be saying, " I told you this was going to happen" or anything like that. I'll just be empathising with them. So sad. Bummer. I love you too much to argue.

No, not all discipline revolves around paying Mom, but last night, those 2 tricks fit the purpose. Kids need to realize that they are responsible for their own choices and have the power to help themselves in many cases.

Did I mention that my kids HATE Love & Logic now? Boy, Tuesday nights are so fun!

Love & Logic course

Ok...so I started the Love & Logic class last night at Reeths-Puffer middle school. I had decided

before I even started the course, that I wanted to take atleast 1 thing from each class time and ponder it fully. And then if I agree with it, I will apply it to my own situation with my children.

For those who don't really know what the Love & Logic course is about, check out http://www.loveandlogic.com/. It was started in 1977 by Jim Fay. He lectures around the U.S.

Funny, in the course, they say NOT to lecture our kids constantly, yet he lecures parents continually!! Ah..the irony of it all.)

The gist of Love & Logic is this:

Love and Logic is a philosophy of raising and teaching children which allows adults to be happier, empowered, and more skilled in the interactions with children. Love allows children to grow through their mistakes. Logic allows children to live with the consequences of their choices. Love and Logic is a way of working with children that puts parents and teachers back in control, teaches children to be responsible, and prepares young people to live in the real world, with its many choices and consequences.

So what did I learn last night that I could use?

Well, I learned that as an adult, I should be able to set firm limits in loving ways. Ways without anger, lecture or threats. How will I do this? Well, when one of my kids causes any kind of problem, I can hand it back to them in a loving way. If I use an empathetic response to their behavior, such as saying, "Uh oh...this is so sad" or "Ohhhh this is hard" instead of "Why did you do that?!" or "Are you trying to drive me crazy today?!", the child is learning to own what he/she did. If I lecture, then I made the problem about me. The child must learn that he/she controls what happens based on the choices they make. Make sense?

So, my next step is to try and apply this concept and see how it works for our family. I will try and love/teach without lecturing constantly and without anger. I also will make sure that we don't skip our family prayers each night. I didn't grow up in a household that did this consistently and the same goes for my hubby. We tend to forget to do this with our kids for long stretches at a time. Kids learn by example, so I better ship shape up! After all, "A family that prays together, stays together" right?

Anyway, back to the class.....I have such a wide age range of children that pretty much anything the class touches on each week, is going to apply to me. I have a teen, 2 pre-teens, 1 elementary age and one infant. So, I'm excited to learn more and try to be a better parent. I think it's a big step just by attending the class. My children already see that by taking the class, I have their well-being in my heart and on my mind.