Smith Kids MSU Tailgate

Smith Kids MSU Tailgate
Dominica, Veronica, Rebel and Miranda

Friday, October 28, 2011

Shhh

So far I am doing fairly well at my goal to yell less at my children.  Less is a pretty vague term so I may not be doing quite as well as I think, but still I feel certain that there has been some reduction in my yelling this week.  A friend suggested I read the book, "Love and Logic" to help with my mission and apparently all parents in West Michigan must share the opinion because there are enough holds on the book at the library that I can  not even place a hold on it.  I will have to wait it out or breakdown and go buy the darn thing. 

The weirdest part of this is that Spring Lake Library doesn't even own a copy of Love and Logic. Given the number of children (and frazzled parents) that attend their story times on a regular basis, I find this shocking,  unbelievable really.  So I am muddling through my yell reduction plan without any professional pointers or advice  whatsoever and what I find myself doing a lot is breathing deeply, praying  and ignoring my kid's whining. With time maybe they will whine, less just like I am yelling, less. Oh and yes we are reading even more than before.  I really didnt think that was possible, but it is.  Reading is therapeutic for the kids and for me.  When I find myself feeling overwhelmed I take a few deep breaths and announce, "book bonanza time!!" and almost always the kids are delighted and settle in for a book (or two or three hundred).

Anyhow, we're heading to the Daniel's house to check up on their NOTV progress since they never write on here anymore and hang out for the weekend so I think that should help to keep us television free and to keep me from yelling and if we are really lucky keep the kids from whining.

Vern Out

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