You are the one in charge!

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I had no idea what I was going to write on today... Then something happened this morning that just made it click for me. The kids woke up at our usual time, we sat down and had some greek yogurt with bananas. Cyrus seemed off from the moment he woke up - fussy, whiny, argumentative. Everything was bothering him. I looked at him and knew that he was still exhausted. My 1.5 year old little boy is still taking two naps a day. I have tossed around the idea of cutting out the first nap for a couple weeks now, but every time I do - the afternoon nap isn't as successful because he's over tired. Today, he walked into his room grabbed his stuffed fox and his binky (which he is only allowed to have at nap time.) I held him and asked "Cyrus are you ready to go down for a nap?" "NO!!!" he screamed. I put him down and took away the binky. "You know you can only have this for nap time, honey- are you ready?" "NO!!!" came another scream. I put the binky and his fox in his bed and said, "okay, you can play with Emma for a little bit." I was trying to analyze if he was going to be able to snap himself out of it or if he was still going to need a morning nap today.

As the morning went on, he was still in his foul mood. Fussing at EVERYTHING. I knew by watching him, he still needed his morning nap. He could hardly function without it. I picked him up and walked him to his room, he screamed the. whole. way. - knowing what was about to happen. I calmed him down, handed him his binky and his fox and laid him in his bed. The screaming started again. I gave him a kiss and a book and walked out of the room. Within 10 seconds, the screaming was done and he was sound asleep.


The moral of this little story is YOU know what is best for your child, not your child. I don't know about you, but my kids fight sleep. They will do anything & everything they can to avoid getting in their bed most nights, but it doesn't stop me from having them in bed at the same time every night. Routine is important, it helps them feel secure. It allows them to know ahead of time what will be happening, to have some predictability in their lives. These 3 kids were given to Sam and me, we are responsible for taking the best care of them. Parenting is HARD, but we are not their friends! We are leading the way for them. We are making the vital decisions that we know are best so that our kids grow up to be decent. We can settle for 'every day hard' or we can take these first few years and set a schedule to help our kids know that we are in charge, that we honestly know what is best for them in this season of their lives. If we don't show them the way, who will? My only goal is to raise them into adults that don't suck! These kids are our future, I want to be able to enjoy them as adults. I take my job very seriously. I make sure I am strict on manners, getting good rest, and eating healthy foods. I want to do my best in these few short years that I have with them, setting them on the right course for the rest of their lives. I see wayyyy too many kids that are entitled and run their parents. Don't let that be the case for you! Kids don't know any better, they are KIDS! WE need to do better to teach them what is right from wrong.

3 things I have learned that are vital.

1. Say what you mean and mean what you say! Don't make empty threats to your children with no follow through. If you say they will sit in time out for disobeying and they do disobey, make sure to follow through. This is KEY in having them listen to you. If all they hear is empty threats, they'll never believe you'll do anything about it.

2. Set a routine. Make a rough draft schedule and try for a week to do the same few things every day. If one day doesn't work, try again the next day. Alter it little by little until it works for YOU.

3. Talk respectful to your children. Be the example. Don't lash out in anger, try your best to compose yourself and to be mild in your manner to your kids. They WATCH your actions more than they listen to your direction. Make sure you're not setting a double standard.

       

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