Friday, September 5, 2008

Inspired by Life in a Shoe and a good book

My friend Brooke recently directed me to this blog. Check out her post entitled "10 milestones that make Mom's life easier." If you, like myself, get overwhelmed by the amount of people needing you to do EVERYTHING for them, you will be encouraged by this!

Yesterday I was very frustrated by my girls' inability/unwillingness to just pick up the toys!! It was a miserable afternoon for the three of us as I worked to train them. Later I remembered that I used to go through the same process with Peter and Kate. They would just end up playing and fighting and making bigger messes. Well, now (for the most part) if I tell the 3 oldest it's time to pick up, Peter gets right to work. As I notice that he is doing most of the picking up, I usually excuse him and tell Kate and Maddie to finish up. So there's hope! Perhaps in the next year Kate will make more of an effort as well!

I have been reading the book Raising Godly Tomatoes. It is a wonderful book about training for obedience the first time. It's a little scary to read because it requires a huge amount of time and CONSISTENCY on the part of the parents. However, I am definitely seeing where I have failed in the past and I want to change things! It is so exasperating to have to repeat myself over and over again when there is no reason that my children shouldn't listen right away. It would have been so much easier if I had started this with Peter when he was a baby! You don't realize what a big deal it is until you have a few children. With one it's easy to overlook a seemingly small issue- like a toddler not coming when you say, "Ella, come to mommy." The easiest thing to do when she ignores me or even says "no" because she's busy looking at a book is to just pick her up and take her where I want her to go. But unless I want to be picking her up when she's 6, I need to keep working on TRAINING her to come the first time! I HIGHLY recommend this book- as with most parenting books, I don't agree with every single tiny detail, BUT it is so full of valuable insight and ideas. The author is a mother who seeks to train her children for obedience so that they can glorify God- not just so that her life will be easier! That should be our goal- building and training our children to glorify and serve the Lord! When I slack off and let them get away with IGNORING me, I am not doing them any favors, nor am I being faithful to my calling as their mother.

2 comments:

Middle-Aged Moi said...

Yes, the first time thing is HARD to do, but SO worth it!!! We have done the "come here" thing in a few training sessions. Now to just get them to come faster!

Michelle said...

sounds like a good book. thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to check it out!