Talking makes all the difference

Talk to your kids! Even when they're young, they listen and are capable of understanding more than I think most of us give them credit for. I have to keep reminding myself about this - if I sit my kids down and talk to them before running errands, they behave much better than if I just 'expect' them to behave and try to train and correct on the spot.

Before leaving the house, I sit my kids down and let them know we're going somewhere. I tell them where we're going and what we'll be doing (and my oldest daughter(she's 4) keeps me on track - when we're done with one store she'llre mind me about the rest of the places we're go to!). I'll remind them about how I want them to act and try to bring up a memory of good behavior so they can relate to it. Whenever they're behaving well, I try to praise them and let them know what they're doing is good and why it's good. Then when it comes time to remind them that I need that good behavior, they can pull up a recent memory of when they were displaying it. I remind them about why it's important to obey and show good behavior. While we're out I'll thank them for being good and let them know I'm happy with how they're behaving.

We got our taxes done (yay for us procrastinators! lol. We're the early birds this year!). Instead of waiting until we got there to correct and teach our children that they can't play with all of the papers, pull the cords and create chaos, I started as soon as we got them up. I let them know where we were going, what they'll find when they get there, how I need them to behave and why. When we're all on the same track, it's time to go. I remind them again when we get there, and they walked in like they knew exactly what to do, and they were proud to demonstrate their good behavior. They beamed when other people made remarks about how well behaved they were. They were having fun being good!

I've started implimenting the bible into our daily lives much more. A while back we bought a book called "For Instruction in Righteousness" by Pam Forster. It's essentially a biblical topical reference for all types of behavior and acts. It helps us find key bible verses and stories that correlate to a specific behavior, gives ideas for its use and punishment. I've been arming myself with this and my KJV Bible so when my children misbehave (either knowingly or not), I can then use the bible to show them why what they did was bad, and tell them what God has to say about it, and what sort of discipline will be implemented. I enjoy it because it not only helps us train our children, but it also helps spawn new conversation about God and what the bible has to say. We talk a lot about the fruits of the spirit and salvation because my daughter is always asking about it. One might weeks ago I was reading Galations to my husband, where the fruits of the spirit are explained, and had a long conversation trying to convert the 'fruits' into kid-friendly terms she might understand. It's been interesting. I'm thankful for the questions and the chance to talk to her about this. Her little heart wants so badly to please the Lord and it is such an amazing thing to see.