Posted in Loving My Children

I found this and just had to copy and link to it. If you are a mom for modesty click on the picture and go to this woman's blog and comment.

Posted in Loving My Children

Why would anyone ever pick up a book {besides the Bible} and trust everything it says? I mentioned recently reading the Babywise books. I have also read To Train Up A Child and two books from Sears. I am ordering Shepherding A Child's Heart and there is another parenting book I would like to read but I cant remember the name of it.

Do I follow these books religiously? NO. These people dont know my children. Only I do. They dont know what works for my kids. I have one child all you have to do is send her to her room by herself and not let her participate in what the family is doing and she acts like you just killed her. Its highly effective for her. She rarely ever gets the biblically approved form of punishment that dare not speak its name out loud. A couple of my kids do get it and its the most effective form for them. 

My 7 month old is attached to his bottle. Since moving him to regularly scheduled solid feeding times and bottle times he is loosing the attachment. He is flexibly scheduled which is something I picked up from Babywise. He is gaining weight and is happier because he is getting a full night's sleep. He is also getting to a point where he knows when it is nap time. I put him in his playpen {where he sleeps in our room still} and he plays quietly for a few minutes before konking out. I wake him up in about 2 hours and he is so happy. He then plays in his swing for awhile and then eats and then crawls around in his play yard and then goes back to the playpen for a cat nap. We have seen a huge difference in him even during this first trial week.

We demand first time obedience from our kids. Even the 3 year old. As a result we have four children who can sit nicely in any resteraunt without causing a disturbance, sit quietly through church with nothing to occupy them, say please and thank you and get tons of compliments.

My children know if I say something will be it will be. Good or bad. Sometimes punishment is not immediate, because it cant be. At church the other night we were letting all the kids watch a movie while we fellowshipped and read a book together. I admit I broke my rule and told them three times they needed to stay in a certain section of the church. The second time I informed them if there was a third time they were not in there it would be dealt with at home. There was a third time. All I said to them was find a seat until it is time to leave. They came home and got jammies on and came to sit for Bible time. When Bible time was over we discussed the behaviors from the night and then they were reminded that there were consequences and since they choose to disobey they chose to suffer the consequences. They were punished and sent to bed.

Thats another thing hubby and I have chosen to do. Make sure that they understand that by choosing to misbehave they are choosing to suffer the consequences. I find many people today who cant take the blame for thier own lives. As a former foster parent I look at these people and see that they are passing this mentality on to thier children. I expect when we pick foster care back up we will encounter the same mentality. I want my children to understand if they choose the wrong road they must own up to it. Its not the circumstances of thier childhood that led them down this road it is thier choosing.

This is getting long and preachy. I want to finish it for now by saying. Im not a perfect parent. My kids are not perfect kids {by your standards... by mine I think they hung the moon and stars LOL}. I do use outside resources as references for my child rearing ways. I take what I read pull from it what would work for our family, run it by hubby and then we implement. If it doesnt work we regroup and reevaluate.

I dont expect my children to grow up like the Pearls, the Shepherds, the Wilsons, the Phillips, the Ezzos or anyone else's kids. I expect them to grow up as individuals. As people God created from His own image. With thier own personalities and quirks. The above people all have good stuff though and I will gladly take some of thier advice and apply it to my own methods.

My first stop is the Bible though so anything I read that does not line up with the Bible is not sound advice. I know Im rambling but this is a major issue for me right now as I fend off attacks {albeit polite attacks} because I choose to mention a method I am using.

Many people I am finding who attack Babywise have never read the books. Same for To Train Up A Child. Ezzo is against hyper-scheduling. He recommends newborns be fed when they are hungry. working towards a schedule. There is a lot more that people have claimed against him that I found refuted in his books, but that is another post. Anyways, Im done now because it is Sunday and I am supposed to be spending time with my family.