TT9

thanks denise...
It's SO much easier to raise kids when you anticipate behaviors before they happen. What I'm talking about today is 'listening'. Before I tell you what I mean, I want to first let you know that Mike and I went through a series of classes offered by Growing Families International. Most people know it as Growing Kids God's Way or Let The Children Come or Babywise/Toddlerwise/Childwise, etc. We LOVED those classes and the things we learned from them as first time parents. One of the best things we learned from those classes was what they term 'First Time Obedience'. We all want our kids to listen to us the first time we ask them to do something, but it's just not going to happen 100% of the time (or 95% or 90%.....). They usually don't clue in to us because they are too busy with what they are doing or they don't want to stop what they are doing. Something that will help with that is asking your kids to respond to you calling them FIRST and then you give them instructions. So instead of saying 'Suzi, pick up your toys', say 'Suzi, come here please' or 'Suzi, come see Mommy' or 'Suzi, come to Mommy'. She should be looking at you and answer 'Yes' or 'Yes Mommy' or whatever you decide and then you can tell her what it is you want her to do. Use whatever lingo works for you, but ask her to come to you FIRST and then ask her to do something. It's not foolproof, just better. It's something simple that most people already know about and mostly do, but maybe this will help someone who doesn't know and remind the rest of us to anticipate that they won't always do what you ask unless you first get their attention.
~type to you thursday~