Wise advice

I received some very good and well timed parenting advice today. Well timed because, as the girls and I are trying to settle into a summer routine, the transition is not going as smoothly as I hoped. There has been a lot of butting heads. Mine is beginning to hurt!


I was reminded that, as the parent, I need to remain in authority over my children! And as the one in authority I need to wisely and sparingly choose my battles. 


Hello, I think I knew that! Yet I definitely needed to hear it again! 


And that, once a battle is chosen, I need to win. Certainly not win as in, my children lose! I need to win to teach my children that I will follow through if there is a need for consequences, so they know I mean what I say and I will not waver. Follow through is, for sure, the most difficult part. However, the effort to follow through is absolutely in my children's best interest!


Lastly I was reminded to purposefully look for things that my children do well and tell them that I am pleased with them.

Nothing about this advice was new to me. I knew it. I had heard it before. But I had forgotten to live it.


Sometimes, especially when routine is very off kilter, even a Mom can forget what she ought to do. 


Yes, even a mom, occasionally, needs to be reminded to straighten up and fly right!


Christine


P.S. Just for the record...when corrected...I did not roll my eyes!