True confession, I wish that I had spent more time reading, thinking, and preparing myself to be a parent. When I was pregnant I immersed myself in learning about pregnancy. I did a good job too, but I found myself parenting on the fly once my baby was born. Same with the marriage. I wish I had put as much thought and energy into preparing for the marriage relationship that I put into planning the wedding. But I digress...
C has been exerting his will and testing the boundaries. I had suspected it was happening, but I wasn't for certain until today at nap time when I was standing outside the door (after 30 minutes of trying to get him to lay down) peeking through the crack and watched him defiantly through everything out of the crib, then look at the door and scream, waiting for me to come running. I got mad. Marched into his room, flicked his hand (our current method for punishment), told him that he needed to lay down and go to sleep, handed him his blanket and left. Once outside the door I braced myself for a screaming fit, but he laid down and went to sleep. You could have knocked me over with a feather! Well then I did what all self-respecting, over-educated moms do, I did some internet research.
We were given To Train Up a Child by some friends and I have to say I really like the parenting philosophy put forth in the book. The authors have a website and I read a few articles, which were enlightening to say the least. I have been inspired to turn over a new leaf as a parent. If you have time please follow the links at the end and read for yourself. I would love to hear your opinions. I am also open to recommendations and advice from others out there, how do you/did you handle being tested?
Ah, the tests!
ReplyDeleteI liked the links, but I had to admit the tone sounded a bit dire!! I think I agree with what he says, but we all have to realise as well that no parent is 100% consistent and omniscient. We try! But for myself I just have to ask my kids' forgiveness when I don't get it quite right, and lean even more on God to guide me.
Looks like an interesting book. Of course I have to disagree that a newborn should be taught that their crying to manipulate is useless, because I feel a newborn should never be left to cry if it is avoidable. I feel that they need intimacy and closeness even if they are full, clean, and comfortable. However, the general idea of training a child instead of just disciplining is a necessity. This is a practice that I tried to use as a teacher and brought home with me. Sometimes I forget just how much teaching prepared me for parenting. Either way, I am definitely going to look for this book at the library. Thanks for sharing.
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