Bring on the Advice

Our kids are fighting a lot these days.

Caleb is happily in the room he shares with Priscilla.  He is listening to his stereo while drawing pictures.  Priscilla and Timo come in and want to listen to their stuff.  They interrupt him.  But it's her room too.  So there's fights and chaos.  Caleb is mad.  He wants to exist and endure family life until he gets out on his own and wants to never get married or have children or a family because it is all such a headache.

I plead with them to get along - to be peacemakers.  I try not to yell.  Then I do - and repent later - and apologize to them.

I give consequences.  I withhold treats.  I reward the good.

I have failed as a mother.

I am doing something wrong.

'Caleb just grabbed the mask from me.  He won't give it to me.'  yells Timo.

What do I do?  Tell me people.

Comments

  1. Em7 August 2012 at 15:03

    As far as the room sharing goes, I'd say set a timer (30 minutes, an hour, your call) and say that Caleb gets to have the room To use as he sees fit. Then swap and Priscilla has the same turn. It sounds like Caleb really needs alone time when he can get it and this is a way to honor that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah7 August 2012 at 15:09

      Great idea! going to try it right now! Thanks!

      Delete
  2. HeARTworks15 August 2012 at 00:12

    Great idea Em! I only have one son so I have no experience to bank on! Sounds a riot! Patsy from
    HeARTworks and
    papemelroti

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Craziness of Faith

Image
 I realize people of Christian faith, people of other faith, and people of no particular faith, read this blog. And all are welcome here. Thing is, I sometimes ponder my own life of faith through an external-journalistic eye, and pronounce my own opinions of myself: Sarah, your faith is just crazy. Even in my prayers, I express this directly to the God I believe is there: "Lord, is this just a fanatical, pie-in-the-sky sentimental thing that I do - praying to You? I sometimes feel crazy trusting You this much ." Here I am, in those moments, asking God if He thinks I'm as crazy as I seem to think myself. Sometimes I trust God so wildly, so boldly, so almost-stupidly, that I think I'm more than a few cards short of a full-deck. And then I tell God what I think of my trusting Him so much - I analyze it and say, "There's a word for this in psychological terms: Magical thinking."  Lately I've been trying to wrap my head around this concept: magical thinki
Read more

Radical Hospitality

Image
 I was about 15 when I first read the small tract-pamphlet, "My Heart, Christ's Home" and I'm not quite sure how I felt about the message it brought. I think I cringed a little. It felt like I was tempted to hide parts of myself from God, for fear or shame of what He must think of me. It evoked something contrary in me...something...amiss? I can't quite place words to describe my misgivings. Even so, it left a seed - a thought-seed - in me, to germinate, ponder, and dialogue in prayer, asking, "Lord, are You welcome in every crevice of my heart?" And I lay that before God and we explore together, even the darkest corners of my soul. I believe in the exploring there is grace. And discovery - not so much for God - surely, He knows what's there before I do.  Many years later, I discovered Theresa of Avila's Interior Castle. It harkened back to that germinating seed - is my heart Christ's home? Her writing drew me in differently somehow. I suppos
Read more

23 years and half my life

Image
 23 years ago today I woke up and felt miserable - I think I had vomitted in the night and I phoned Sam first thing in the morning. "I don't think I can get married today," I said. This was, of course, disheartening to him. But I gingerly drank some weak tea, handed my Dad a folded up plastic bag to keep in his pocket while he walked me down the aisle, and proceeded to prepare for our wedding later that day. It was Easter Sunday - a day full of hope, joy, and resurrection celebration. Maybe I was hoping that Easter would represent our marriage - the resurrection power of Christ infused into our union. Easter is a day of hope fulfilled, faith becoming sight, the unbelievable becoming real. That's essentially what I felt marriage was going to be.  And I don't intend to dampen the romantic notions I had but I must say, these were indeed, romantic sentiments. Marriage has turned out to be gritty, challenging, (rewarding, yes!), hard work, stretching, painful, on the n
Read more