A great parenting book

I've considered myself fairly successful in the parenting arena. I figure if I can go into a restaurant by myself with my kids, eat, and leave, only bothering surrounding tables with the stares and smiles of my little ones, I'm doing well. 

I am, like everybody, imperfect and have my days. At the suggestion of a friend I bought Parenting with Love and Logic. She's used the school version in her classroom. I love it! It's all about giving children choices, the younger they are, the earlier they learn consequences and the prices are small.

Case in point: My son sucks his finger. I'm trying to break him of the habit, unsuccessfully. In the name of using love and logic, he received two choices. One, continue to suck or two, break the habit for one day so he could join us for soy ice cream at a restaurant after dinner. Not two minues later he was in his room doing his favorite thing. Later that night as we started on dessert he was gently reminded. Our heartstrings were pulled as we watched him bury his head in a chair and silently lament his decision. He knew. He knew the outsome was all his making. No crying, no screaming, no tantrum. We finished our ice cream in peace. He was even happy to leave and bounced his way to the car, probably relieved to be free of the situation.

I've learned my lesson. Finger sucking is his problem, not mine. I'll still work to help him!

More parenting

I watched Real Families Real Answers on BYUtv (while I still have it!) on Thursday night. It gave me good ideas of what I'm doing right and what I need to improve on. If only parenting wasn't "trial and error." I was a perfectionist once upon a time, but in this life, nobody is perfect, so I cut myself some slack and gave myself permission to try, try again. As is sung my Angela Lansbury "It's a step in the right direction!"

Helping kids understand money

I bought a great product to help my kids understand money better. I wasn't sure if they would understand it, as young as they are, but it's a good system that keeps me organized and simple enough for them to understand it. A couple days ago I realized how much my oldest, 5, caught onto.

I was headed out for a date and the house was in a terrible state. I couldn't motivate the kids to help me so my husband came up with a brilliant thought and told them, "If you don't clean up we'll have to pay the baby sitter to clean up for you. But we're paying them with YOUR money, since it is YOUR job to clean YOUR toys."

Fifteen minutes later - toy free house.

Check out the product blog for more fabulous parenting ideas. http://www.sticktoitcharts.blogspot.com/

"Do you ever wish to have some of the foods you used to eat?"

My husband posed this question to me a little bit ago. I thought about it. Because pregnancy makes my memory incredibly short, I only reflected on the last week or so of instances. "Not really," was my response. Sometimes I'm at a function, like church choir practice, and someone announces a treat they brought. In this case, white chocolate fudge. My first thought is "yum! Too bad I can't have any." But to truely feel better, and show the baker some interest in her food, I'll ask how she made it. Five minutes later I have the perfect counter argument for myself. "So you put a ton of butter and sugar, in different forms, into a pot, boil, then pour it into a pan. Do you know how much cholesterol you are consuming? Talk about a sugar rush!" Now I'm cured.

In regards to my children, I still let them have a taste. They have a right to it. I'm learning to be a "Love and Logic" parent. LL parentss know that children need to make decisions for themselves, younger the better, when the cost to do so is low. They also know that when kids are out of their home and control kids have an even greater opportunity to choose consequences for their actions. Therefore, probably to the disapproval of vegan parents world-wide, I let my kids choose what they want to consume when they aren't at home with my approved options available. My daughter loved the fudge and asked for more (definitely a girl at heart). My son totally rejected it after one lick. Not even the baker was offended saying with a laugh "well, don't force that one if he doesn't want it! That's a good thing!" Whew!