Day 13: Don't criticize your child today.
I have a really helpful trick for those days when I feel I might lose my patience or say something I will later regret. I think of my grandma. Now, this isn't meant to be the brag that it's going to sound like, but I'm pretty much her favorite relative. (I'll pause here for your laughter!)
Sweet Grandma is always telling me, and other family members, how great of a mom I am, how much patience I have, and how she admires that I work full time then come home and manage to raise three adorable, well behaved kids. All of those things are really nice, and even partly true ;) In reality, I sometimes lose my temper, get upset and want to lock myself in my happy place have and ignore the craziness of every day life. My trick to squash those not great mom moments is...... pretend Grandma is in the room, and then react accordingly. So easy, right? It doesn't always work, but there have been times when the kids were behaving badly and I almost reacted just as bad, but I had the thought "would I be embarassed to have my Grandma see me raise my voice/throw something/lock myself in the bathroom/etc?" What does this have to do with not criticising? A whole lot actually. The only times I really feel the need to "criticize" the kids is when they aren't meeting exactly what I wanted in my own mind.
It's two minutes after we're supposed to leave for school and no one has their shoes on? So easy to get mad and say "you guys are so slow, just do as you're told." But with my little trick, I "Grandma-tize" it, the task gets done and we're all happier for it.
Day 14: Remember that being a mother is a gift. This was a great reminder- I have wonderful kids who are all healthy, well behaved and really bring honor to their parents. I love these sweeties!
Day 15: Be firm when needed but never harsh. Another great reminder! We have noticed that when we are quieter in our disclipining, the overall tone of the house is lighter and quiter. If that's not motivation to avoid harsh or loud speech, I don't know what is!
Day 16: Picture what you want your child to be like at age 25. Mother with that in mind today. Okay... here's where I've failed. Usually, I have an idea of what the challenge for the day is. Friday for some reason was really crazy and I didn't even get on the internet all. day. long. That might be a first for me! Because this one is so important, I really don't want to blow it off so I'm going to table this one for another day when I can really think about and enforce it.
Let's hope I stay more on top of the second half of this month than I did the first half!
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