Sunday, December 30, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Creative Correction.
I'll definitely be using some of these for Miss Trina this summer. I'm sure she will thoroughly enjoy stomping on the driveway for a full minute.
Disciplining our children takes dedication and effort.
It also helps to mix in a little creativity when needed. The
consequences below from parenting expert, Lisa Welchel, might seem a
little strong, but let them inspire you to come up with your own, and
pair them with the 7 Steps to Tried and True Discipline.
1. If time-outs don't work, try a "time-in." This can be accomplished by sending your child to a designated spot where he must complete a task that has a definite beginning and end. This could be putting together a small puzzle, stringing 50 beads on a piece of yarn, or tracing the alphabet. A time-in diverts his energies and encourages him to focus on something positive.
2. Timers set definite boundaries. For example, with a timer, you can say, "I'm setting the timer. I want your room cleaned (or your shoes on, or the dishes unloaded) in 15 minutes. If you haven't finished by then, your correction is…." This method not only spurs on easily distracted children, but it also leaves little room for arguing about a job that isn't finished and whether the correction is warranted.
3. Make a homemade "Correction" can and fill it with tickets or slips of paper with various consequences written on them. Instead of giving your child a time-out, send her to the can for a slip. A few ideas might include no TV or computer for a night, early bedtime, or an extra chore. Toss in a blank piece of paper, a "mercy" ticket. This gives you an opportunity to talk about how God gives us mercy even when we deserve punishment.
4. If you repeatedly open the door to your child's room only to catch him in an act of disobedience, take your child's bedroom door off the hinges. It sounds harder to do than it actually is. And it works wonders!
5. Adjust bedtimes according to your children's behavior that day. For each infraction, they must go to bed five minutes earlier, but if they've been good, they can earn the right to stay up an extra five minutes.
6. An especially tough but effective correction for teenagers who forget to wear their seat belts is to add an additional day past their sixteenth birthday before they can take their driver's test. Hey, it's important!
7. If you have dawdlers, try this: Whoever is last to the table at dinnertime becomes the server. But there's a catch. Even if you're first, your hands must be clean, of you'll end up serving the food, pouring the drinks, and fetching the condiments (after washing your hands, of course!).
8. If your children are constantly turning in sloppy schoolwork, get a few photocopied pages of printing or cursive exercises. (These can be found at any teachers supply store.) Then ask your haphazard child this: "What takes longer: a report done neatly in 15 minutes or one you've sped through in 10 that must be redone and warrants a page of handwriting practice?"
9. You've heard the reprimand "Hold your tongue!" Make your child do it-literally. Have her stick out her tongue and hold it between two fingers. This is an especially effective correction for public outbursts.
10. My friend, Becki, tried a variation on this idea in the car. If things got too raucous or there was too much fussing between siblings, she would cry, "Noses on knees!" Her children then had to immediately touch their noses to their knees until she determined that they had learned their lesson.
11. Next time your child "forgets" to put something away, like video games or sports equipment, put it away for him. When he asks where it is, tell him that he'll just have to look for it. Believe me; he will learn that it's a lot more trouble to find something that Mom has hidden than it is to put it away in the first place.
12. If you have younger children who are messy, try this: Put their toys in a "rainy day" box to bring out later. This has the added benefit of making an old toy seem new again. Or set the toy somewhere out of reach but within sight for a predetermined number of days. This increases the impact of the correction by keeping the forbidden toy fresh in their minds.
13. I heard from a mom who had tired of her three sons' ceaseless noises and sound effects—so she got creative. If her boys did not take their commotion outside, she would make them sit down and listen to the "Barney" theme song cassette for 10 minutes. For adolescent boys, it's torture!
14. If your little one gets too hyper, come up with a code word to remind him to stop the action without embarrassing him. Whenever Tucker started getting too rowdy in a group, I would yell, "Hey, Batman." He knew that he needed to calm down before I had to take more drastic measures.
15. Does your child slam the door when she's angry? You might tell her, "It's obvious that you don't know how to close a door properly. To learn, you will open and close this door, calmly and completely, 100 times."
16. If your child likes to stomp off to his room or stomp around in anger, send him outside to the driveway and tell him to stomp his feet for one minute. He'll be ready to quit after about 15 seconds, but make him stomp even harder.
17. The same goes for throwing fits. Tell your child to go to her room to continue her fit. She isn't allowed to come out and she has to keep crying for 10 minutes. Ten minutes is an awfully long time, and it's no fun if your parents tell you to cry.
18. Another way to handle temper tantrums is to simply say, "That is too disruptive for this house. You may continue your fit in the backyard. When you're finished, you are welcome to come back inside." When there isn't an audience, the thrill of throwing a temper tantrum is gone.
19. If a job is not done diligently, have your child practice doing it. She'll learn to be more thorough if she's made to sweep the floor three or four times because her first effort wasn't good enough.
20. When one of my children is acting disrespectful, disobedient, or defiant, I will instruct him or her to choose a chore from the Job Jar. The jobs include scrubbing the toilet, organizing the pots and pans, moving and vacuuming underneath the furniture, weeding the garden, matching up odd socks, defrosting the refrigerator, and cleaning the closet, garage, or under the bed. And those are just a few possibilities. You could add ironing, vacuuming the refrigerator coils, scrubbing the inside of small wastebaskets, polishing the silver, cleaning the window wells, brushing the animals, cleaning the fireplace, shaking the kitchen rugs, vacuuming the couch, alphabetizing the spices, and using wood cleaner on the dining room chairs. Not only does the Job Jar help to get my house clean, but it also keeps my little ones from complaining that they're bored. They know that with the Job Jar, Mom will always have an antidote for boredom.
21. I have a friend whose son's morning chore was to get the pooper-scooper and clean up the doggie gifts littering the backyard. The boy was not doing this job with much diligence, so his father came up with this creative solution: After the boy had completed the task, he would be required to run through the yard barefoot! From then on, their lawn was perfectly clean.
Taken from Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel.
Taken from http://imom.com/parenting/tweens/parenting/training/21-creative-consequences/
Disciplining our children takes dedication and effort.
It also helps to mix in a little creativity when needed. The
consequences below from parenting expert, Lisa Welchel, might seem a
little strong, but let them inspire you to come up with your own, and
pair them with the 7 Steps to Tried and True Discipline.1. If time-outs don't work, try a "time-in." This can be accomplished by sending your child to a designated spot where he must complete a task that has a definite beginning and end. This could be putting together a small puzzle, stringing 50 beads on a piece of yarn, or tracing the alphabet. A time-in diverts his energies and encourages him to focus on something positive.
2. Timers set definite boundaries. For example, with a timer, you can say, "I'm setting the timer. I want your room cleaned (or your shoes on, or the dishes unloaded) in 15 minutes. If you haven't finished by then, your correction is…." This method not only spurs on easily distracted children, but it also leaves little room for arguing about a job that isn't finished and whether the correction is warranted.
3. Make a homemade "Correction" can and fill it with tickets or slips of paper with various consequences written on them. Instead of giving your child a time-out, send her to the can for a slip. A few ideas might include no TV or computer for a night, early bedtime, or an extra chore. Toss in a blank piece of paper, a "mercy" ticket. This gives you an opportunity to talk about how God gives us mercy even when we deserve punishment.
4. If you repeatedly open the door to your child's room only to catch him in an act of disobedience, take your child's bedroom door off the hinges. It sounds harder to do than it actually is. And it works wonders!
5. Adjust bedtimes according to your children's behavior that day. For each infraction, they must go to bed five minutes earlier, but if they've been good, they can earn the right to stay up an extra five minutes.
6. An especially tough but effective correction for teenagers who forget to wear their seat belts is to add an additional day past their sixteenth birthday before they can take their driver's test. Hey, it's important!
7. If you have dawdlers, try this: Whoever is last to the table at dinnertime becomes the server. But there's a catch. Even if you're first, your hands must be clean, of you'll end up serving the food, pouring the drinks, and fetching the condiments (after washing your hands, of course!).
8. If your children are constantly turning in sloppy schoolwork, get a few photocopied pages of printing or cursive exercises. (These can be found at any teachers supply store.) Then ask your haphazard child this: "What takes longer: a report done neatly in 15 minutes or one you've sped through in 10 that must be redone and warrants a page of handwriting practice?"
9. You've heard the reprimand "Hold your tongue!" Make your child do it-literally. Have her stick out her tongue and hold it between two fingers. This is an especially effective correction for public outbursts.
10. My friend, Becki, tried a variation on this idea in the car. If things got too raucous or there was too much fussing between siblings, she would cry, "Noses on knees!" Her children then had to immediately touch their noses to their knees until she determined that they had learned their lesson.
11. Next time your child "forgets" to put something away, like video games or sports equipment, put it away for him. When he asks where it is, tell him that he'll just have to look for it. Believe me; he will learn that it's a lot more trouble to find something that Mom has hidden than it is to put it away in the first place.
12. If you have younger children who are messy, try this: Put their toys in a "rainy day" box to bring out later. This has the added benefit of making an old toy seem new again. Or set the toy somewhere out of reach but within sight for a predetermined number of days. This increases the impact of the correction by keeping the forbidden toy fresh in their minds.
13. I heard from a mom who had tired of her three sons' ceaseless noises and sound effects—so she got creative. If her boys did not take their commotion outside, she would make them sit down and listen to the "Barney" theme song cassette for 10 minutes. For adolescent boys, it's torture!
14. If your little one gets too hyper, come up with a code word to remind him to stop the action without embarrassing him. Whenever Tucker started getting too rowdy in a group, I would yell, "Hey, Batman." He knew that he needed to calm down before I had to take more drastic measures.
15. Does your child slam the door when she's angry? You might tell her, "It's obvious that you don't know how to close a door properly. To learn, you will open and close this door, calmly and completely, 100 times."
16. If your child likes to stomp off to his room or stomp around in anger, send him outside to the driveway and tell him to stomp his feet for one minute. He'll be ready to quit after about 15 seconds, but make him stomp even harder.
17. The same goes for throwing fits. Tell your child to go to her room to continue her fit. She isn't allowed to come out and she has to keep crying for 10 minutes. Ten minutes is an awfully long time, and it's no fun if your parents tell you to cry.
18. Another way to handle temper tantrums is to simply say, "That is too disruptive for this house. You may continue your fit in the backyard. When you're finished, you are welcome to come back inside." When there isn't an audience, the thrill of throwing a temper tantrum is gone.
19. If a job is not done diligently, have your child practice doing it. She'll learn to be more thorough if she's made to sweep the floor three or four times because her first effort wasn't good enough.
20. When one of my children is acting disrespectful, disobedient, or defiant, I will instruct him or her to choose a chore from the Job Jar. The jobs include scrubbing the toilet, organizing the pots and pans, moving and vacuuming underneath the furniture, weeding the garden, matching up odd socks, defrosting the refrigerator, and cleaning the closet, garage, or under the bed. And those are just a few possibilities. You could add ironing, vacuuming the refrigerator coils, scrubbing the inside of small wastebaskets, polishing the silver, cleaning the window wells, brushing the animals, cleaning the fireplace, shaking the kitchen rugs, vacuuming the couch, alphabetizing the spices, and using wood cleaner on the dining room chairs. Not only does the Job Jar help to get my house clean, but it also keeps my little ones from complaining that they're bored. They know that with the Job Jar, Mom will always have an antidote for boredom.
21. I have a friend whose son's morning chore was to get the pooper-scooper and clean up the doggie gifts littering the backyard. The boy was not doing this job with much diligence, so his father came up with this creative solution: After the boy had completed the task, he would be required to run through the yard barefoot! From then on, their lawn was perfectly clean.
Taken from Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel.
Taken from http://imom.com/parenting/tweens/parenting/training/21-creative-consequences/
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Feeling Better!
It's amazing what 24 hours worth of antibiotics will do. Here's M yesterday morning looking almost 100% back to normal. Her eyelids (upper and lower) are still a bit swollen but she looks tons better.
Also pictured here is the Matilda Jane outfit I splurged on. I loved it and couldn't pass it up. The top fits her really well (12m) but the leggings are pretty big (12m)...I probably should have gone down a size in those. Oh well.
In other news, my mom, M and I all went to go pick out our Christmas trees yesterday. Ours is currently all set up in the living room. Now, to wait for the branches to fall so we can decorate!!!
Also pictured here is the Matilda Jane outfit I splurged on. I loved it and couldn't pass it up. The top fits her really well (12m) but the leggings are pretty big (12m)...I probably should have gone down a size in those. Oh well.
In other news, my mom, M and I all went to go pick out our Christmas trees yesterday. Ours is currently all set up in the living room. Now, to wait for the branches to fall so we can decorate!!!
Monday, December 10, 2012
First Ear Infection...
...and it's a double ear infection coupled with pink eye. :/
She was sadfaces this morning:
She's currently snuggling up with grandma today. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon because I'm sure she's not feeling so hot despite her keeping up a pretty cheery demeanor so far today.
Thanks so much for all of your help today mom. Don't know what I would do without you!
She was sadfaces this morning:
She's currently snuggling up with grandma today. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon because I'm sure she's not feeling so hot despite her keeping up a pretty cheery demeanor so far today.
Thanks so much for all of your help today mom. Don't know what I would do without you!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Good Luck J!!!
I hope your first day goes well at your new job today, Jenny!!!
I also hope the initial phase of moving has gone well!!!
Love you!
I also hope the initial phase of moving has gone well!!!
Love you!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Montessori Bedroom
After a lot of discussion and research, Ryan and I decided that we wanted to set up a Montessori bedroom for M. We aren't following all of the aspects, however we decided to use quite a few.
If you want to know more about the Montessori set up, you can Google "Montessori bedroom" and you will find a TON of great information. Essentially, however, the Montessori bedroom is a room set up on the child's level. Everything is down at their line of site and within their reach. It helps promote independence and autonomy.
So, off we went on Saturday to pick up a new twin size mattress for M. We took her up to Pure Sleep and tested out a bunch of different choices. Of course, my child was happiest rolling around and giggling on one of the most expensive mattresses in the store, lol. We ended up settling on a firm, but not too firm Simmons Beautyrest. Ryan and my dad headed out to the warehouse in Warren to pick it up while M and I helped my mom put up Christmas lights.
Once the mattress arrived at home, out went the crib, changing table, and La-Z-Boy. The La-Z-Boy went down into the family room, and the crib & changing table are currently residing in the guestroom until we're sure they won't be needed. We did, however, leave her dresser in her room. While this isn't totally in alight with the "everything on their level" mantra, there are several things that need to stay in her room, but out of her reach (read: monitor, humidifier, clock, etc). So, the dresser houses those items and also block the outlet they are all plugged into.
We ran out of time on Saturday to do any more with the room, but we were able to get the bed all set up and the child-proof nightlight installed. M's first night on the mattress went pretty well. She ended up off the mattress a total of 3 times. The first time she didn't even wake up. The next two times were at 11 pm and 5 am. Both times, she went right back to sleep after I called her back up onto the mattress.
Saturday, we ran up to Ikea to get a few things for her room such as a child-size chair and a bookcase to house some of her toys and other items, but it at waist level for her so she can utilize the top as a counter.
Here are some shots of her new room:
The last thing I have to do to complete her room is to get some artwork and other visually stimulating things up on to her walls that are down at her eye level instead up by the ceiling. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to put up and whether I'm going to put a safety mirror in there or not.
If you want to know more about the Montessori set up, you can Google "Montessori bedroom" and you will find a TON of great information. Essentially, however, the Montessori bedroom is a room set up on the child's level. Everything is down at their line of site and within their reach. It helps promote independence and autonomy.
So, off we went on Saturday to pick up a new twin size mattress for M. We took her up to Pure Sleep and tested out a bunch of different choices. Of course, my child was happiest rolling around and giggling on one of the most expensive mattresses in the store, lol. We ended up settling on a firm, but not too firm Simmons Beautyrest. Ryan and my dad headed out to the warehouse in Warren to pick it up while M and I helped my mom put up Christmas lights.
Once the mattress arrived at home, out went the crib, changing table, and La-Z-Boy. The La-Z-Boy went down into the family room, and the crib & changing table are currently residing in the guestroom until we're sure they won't be needed. We did, however, leave her dresser in her room. While this isn't totally in alight with the "everything on their level" mantra, there are several things that need to stay in her room, but out of her reach (read: monitor, humidifier, clock, etc). So, the dresser houses those items and also block the outlet they are all plugged into.
We ran out of time on Saturday to do any more with the room, but we were able to get the bed all set up and the child-proof nightlight installed. M's first night on the mattress went pretty well. She ended up off the mattress a total of 3 times. The first time she didn't even wake up. The next two times were at 11 pm and 5 am. Both times, she went right back to sleep after I called her back up onto the mattress.
Saturday, we ran up to Ikea to get a few things for her room such as a child-size chair and a bookcase to house some of her toys and other items, but it at waist level for her so she can utilize the top as a counter.
Here are some shots of her new room:
I currently have her bed lined with pillows until she gets better at staying on the mattress!
The dresser and her pint-sized chair!
Bookcase and chair. We also put locks on the bi-fold closet doors so she can't get into them and pinch her fingers. Once she's older, she'll have full access to choose her clothes and get ready.
Currently, she is only tall enough to reach the cabinet doors which contains some of her toys.
Miss M thoroughly enjoying her new chair.
The child-proof nightlight. She also cannot get into the outlet as it comes child-proofed at well.
The last thing I have to do to complete her room is to get some artwork and other visually stimulating things up on to her walls that are down at her eye level instead up by the ceiling. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to put up and whether I'm going to put a safety mirror in there or not.
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