The Art of Saying No
My daughter turned 16 years old this year, and I was faced with the worst part of parenting so far, teaching your child to drive. I was blindsided by how much I would hate it. At first, I thought of the new found freedom we would have from not having to drive her to all her events. But the second she got in the driver’s seat, the freedom of carpooling was the last thing on my mind. It’s terrifying. Then all I could think about was that I have to do this six more times. This got me...
Read MoreHoly Song Wars
We have 6 children so driving anywhere is interesting: “Mom, So-in-so is touching me.” “Okay, well move over.” “Mom, So-in-so is annoying.” “Honey, we are all annoying in some way, deal with it.” “Mom, So-in-so is LOOKING at me.” “Okay, well look away.” My children think that driving our giant conversion van (that we refer to as Relaxi-taxi) isn’t much of a job. I’m apparently bored and would love to referee the back seats. One topic that has come up more than once is singing. Some in my...
Read MoreUnderstanding Introverts
I am an extrovert, my husband, not so much! Up until the past few weeks I have seen this as a personality flaw, which needed to be fixed. My personality was clearly better and the more he could conform to me, the better we would be. Such maturity, I know. I believe our culture is biased towards outgoing, extroverted people. The educational philosophies that dictate our schools mandate cooperative learning and group projects. In my graduate program, not one class went by without...
Read MoreDiscipline Ideas
Discipline Ideas: Children Don’t Fit in a Box: One thing having a couple of children will teach you is that they are all unique and need to be parented as individuals. What is effective for my first born was not effective at all for my third child. Get creative! Strategize with friends. Ask for other ideas. If your current ways of showing love or correction are not working, look for other strategies. Become a student of your children. Learn what makes them tick. Look for ways to build them up...
Read More