Discipline = Teach

I have been reading a very interesting book lately on positive disciplining strategies. The book is called Discipline without Distress by Judy Arnall - it is a LLL approved book for better parenting and is amazing. I am so impressed with the information that my mom has gotten the book for herself and my brother.

With an 18 month old and a 5 1/2 year old my parenting skills were definitely being challenged too much - I had to do something since time-outs, yelling, getting frustrated, etc. were definitely not working. This book has been the answer and after a couple of weeks of using a new approach I am seeing results. Before J hardly hugged me or kissed me - now all the time and all of our stress levels have come down.

Anyways the keys in this book give tools for raising caring, responsible children who can communicate and validate feelings without time-outs, spanking, punishment, or bribery. So, far I have learned how important parent maintenance time-outs are - so, now every Sunday I get two hours to myself - and Doug gets two hours to himself. This last weekend I went shopping and then to a coffee house and read - bliss. I have also learned how important it is to give our children the power of communication and validate feelings and work on active listening. Children go through so many different developmental stages and their cognitive development is staged and I have put too high of expectations on my children when they are developmentally not ready yet. I have learned that my children are not doing the the things they are to defy me or being naughty for me - it is just their stage. I have also learned how important the positive is - encouraging more than praising and to say no differently. If our children only hear no and don't get any positives it is very hard for them to be successful. Also, we are her to teach, model and mentor our children into the adults we want them to be. I could go on and on, but I have other things to get to this napternoon:)

Thanks for reading - take the time to check out some positive discipline resources or child development and enlighten yourself today! You will be a better mentor for your and our children I guarantee:)

Pictures

Too much xmas fun!!!

New Year

Well, it is the new year and we are kicking it off big. We ended the old year with some new big purchases - finally, finishing off our last year's tax return. Doug got a new TV, I got a Vitamix and we both got a new dishwasher:) Doug installed our new dishwasher yesterday and boy is it different - lots to get used to. We went with a european brand this time - time will tell. Our old one only lasted 4 1/2 years and went kinda fritzy after only 1 year in use.

Jaadyn is back to school after a long winter break. We did not get out much because I was sick for pretty much all of break. I got this weird cold before school got out - that went into the flu - that went back into a cold - and then just a sore throat for a long time. I am all better now - for now. The first week back to school hit us all hard. Jaadyn and I were exhausted by Thursday. In fact, he took a nap at school on Thursday after telling his teacher he just could not do his math anymore and needed to lie down. I even took a nap that day - unheard of.

Christmas was wonderful for everyone. We did not go anywhere. My parents came for a week right after xmas. Doug's folks visited for a day on the 26th. The boys got lots of fun new toys and mom and dad did good this year not buying them tons. We left that to the grandparents - finally. I was pretty proud of myself when I figured out how much I had spent on both boys - aroudn $40 total. - thank goodness for year round clearance. Santa even made out cheap shopping craigslist:)

Doug and I are also celebrating exciting weightlosses for both of us. Since July Doug has dropped down to 160 and I have dropped 22 lbs. - size 8/10 - to a 3/4 - can you believe it - and none it is excercise based! Hoping it will not creep back on:)