Okay, today is the first day of our "LoveDown"

What is a "LoveDown?"  Well, I have noticed that our children respond to consistency, but consistency is extremely hard to come by!  Here's how our family looks like sometimes:  We are consistent in our expectations for our children, and they respond beautifully by generally listening to us and getting along with each other.  I get comfortable (and lazy), and then little bad habits creep in.  I'm so impressed with how nice they are, I let them go, and pretty soon, we are dealing with monstrous habits that I have played direct accomplice to developing.   Then, forced by the misery the monstrous habits have wreaked in our home, we enforce a "CrackDown".  The problem is that repeated crackdowns seem really lame, not to mention horrendously unfair (by giving children a double standard), but the alternative is permissive parenting, and allowing them to be slaves to bad habits that will bring them pain with high stakes consequences in the future.   Sigh... 

So, I am working on a "LoveDown".  Which is basically the same thing as a crackdown, just with a  lot of love, fun, and smiles.

What do we do?

1.  Keep Natalie close to me 100 per cent of the time.   Keep Christopher in eye or ear shot 100 per cent of the time.

2.  Gently and cheerfully catch misdemeanors/attitudes before they grow into big ones.

3.  Expect them to listen to exactly what I say, every time, cheerfully and quickly.  When they don't, we press "Replay" and repeat the directive over until they are cheerfully and quickly listening exactly as I want them to.  Then we might add a few more directives to see if they are really willing to listen.  I am remaining calm, happy, loving, and affectionate, as well as having the resliency of an iron wall in the middle of it.  (: (: (:

4.  We are playing games, dancing, hugging, doing work or school, and having a pleasant time most of the time. 

Some specific things we are working on:

Natalie: 
Listening right away, all the way, without screeching.
Sitting quietly and cheerfully on my lap without being entertained or banging against me or crawling over my shoulder, or manipulating my hands forcefully.
Not screaming whenever Christopher displeases her--not rewarding in any way for screeching.
Saying "Please" and "Thank-you"

Christopher:
Following instructions without changing them
Not assuming the role of  Natalie's police

Mommy:
Putting the children as my first priority--they do NOT interrupt me!  They are more important than housework, food, laundry, phone calls, computer, etc.  I still do these other things, but my first job is to raise godly children wtih an internal moral compass and a spirit of grace--these other things are simply vehicles to teach them how to manage life along with me--they are not the main thing.

Remaining a loving, happy, calm, iron wall that is not phased by continuous testing of boundaries, but sees this testing as a wonderful opportunity to bring grace and truth to our children, and to provide them with the opportunity to choose wisely when tempted to give in to their foolishness and passions.

Expect her to listen every time, leaving other things go