Love and Logic Days #11 & 12

Day 11

Choices are like fishing:
Make a decision for a kid, avoid a bad decision today...
Teach a kid to make good decisions, empower him/her for a lifetime.

 

Day 12

Real world lessons are remembered longer when the adult is sad and understanding, instead of angry.  Children need the opportunities to make mistakes.  They need to be allowed to live with the consequences of those mistakes.  Parents, stay out of the way long enough to let our children figure things out for themselves.  This takes faith and support. 

 

Kids have messy rooms.  They keep their rooms like most adults keep their garages.  They look at them as storage rooms, not show places.  To little space for the amount of stuff one has.  How a child keeps his room is not necessarily how he will keep his house.  How a parent keeps their house is an indicator of how a child will keep his house.  Loosen up about perfect room, and be a model by picking up after one self.  Just ask children to shut their doors when company comes.  Be reasonable. 

 

Give reasonable deadlines, instead of demanding something be done NOW!  Giving deadlines gives the parents time to come up with what they will do for those who have not complied.  Example:  Everyone who has a clean room by Saturday at 9 will get to go ice skating with us. 

 

Let the children help to customize their rooms.  They’ll take more pride in them.  When the children want more expensive things than you can afford.  Help them find a way to make up the difference.  This teaches responsibility.  Keep a list of household jobs on the fridge that the children can earn money for. 

 

One day you’ll miss those messy rooms, and the kids too!