Affirmative Parenting

I learned some great parenting techniques as part of my collegiate experience. One of the things I was trained to do in my hands-on experience at a DAP preschool was to affirm proper behaviors. Instead of saying, "No yelling" you say, "Use your inside voice", or "Let's share" instead of "Don't take that toy away from him".

It is a challenge to re-train yourself to speak & think in this manner, and I must give Tyler credit for trying really really hard to do this -- not for a class or a grade (I really was graded on how I spoke to the children), but for the sake of trying to be a good dad.

I just never thought I'd hear the following phrase at my house: "Drew, teeth off the piano."

































Drew sporting some of the family's shoes.

One spot of beauty

A little beauty goes far to brighten my day, because more often than not...

there are dirty dishes in the sink,

toys are here, there, and everywhere,

there is a large pile of laundry waiting to be folded on the table or couch,

there are spots of food, watercolors, or dirty fingerprints on the walls,

the house stinks like wet dog, messy diapers, or the stinky wood burning in the wood stove,

the carpet needs to be vacuumed (not to mention shampooed),

the refrigerator and counter tops are covered in art projects and school papers,

the couches are covered in watermarks from baby drool and spilled bottles,

and there is a buzz of activity and flurry of five bodies that are either getting along well rather noisily or not getting along so well rather noisily.

It's enough to challenge even the brave at heart.

When I saw this beautiful $5 bunch of tulips the week before Valentine's Day I knew that I needed to bring them home. I just didn't know how much they would brighten my life for a week. No matter what state of chaos or order surrounded them, I could focus on a spot of beauty and feel my spirit lifted. Marjorie Pay Hinckley once said that we ought to have something beautiful in every room of our house. Now I know why.