A Bright, Soapy Idea

     An idea occured to me last night while I was in the shower. Ideas often do that--come to me in the shower. I believe this happens to a lot of us. Allow me to digress for one moment. Why is it that ideas come to us so easily while we are standing naked in a confined space, water beating on our bare bodies, face full of soap, and nothing to write with? Ah, another of those great mysteries that some day quantum physics will undoubtedly solve.
     Now, back to the main point. The thought I had was that I need to let you know the purpose of this blog. Otherwise it just seems like mindless rambling, which I don't mean for it to be.
     The actual purpose is for parents to have a place to brag on their children, tell the world how great their kids are, what they did that was so special. It's also a place to ask for help. Have a difficult situation and not sure how to deal with it? Perhaps if you post it here, some parent who has had that difficulty in the past can pass on their wisdom to you. Viola! One parent helped another with good practical, down-to-earth, how-I-did-it information. Or, if no one has had that situation before, perhaps, one of us will be taking a shower and--Aha! the soap goes on the face and the brain kicks in.
     So that's how it works. I hope you will feel free to add your comments, related or not, to whatever I write. I look forward to reading from you soon.

Train Whistles and Stories

     I love the sound of a train whistle at night when I'm about to fall asleep. I grew up in the same house where I lived until I turned seventeen and left home for college. The house was four blocks from a railroad track and every night, without fail, a train would whistle its way along that track as I lay in my bed, my eyelids heavy with sleep. There was something about the sound of the train that I found comforting.
      My bedroom was shared with two younger brothers. Often, before going to sleep, I would tell them stories that I made up during the telling. Sometimes we got too loud. I know that because our parents would call out from the next room admonishing us to be quiet. We would quiet down for a few minutes, but it wasn't long before we were at it again. This time, a trip to our room from my father, would quiet us down for the night.
     We generally behaved our parents, but a good story is  a good story and nothing could stand in its way. And that's my point--everyone loves a good story. I hope you are reading good stories to your children and encouraging them to read them on their own. Reading beats TV. With TV, we are passive onlookers. With reading our imaginations must work to fill in the holes and if it is a truly good story, we are transported to places we have never been before and, perhaps, could never go.
     If you don't have a good children's book in your house, go to the library or book store and pick one up. Read it to your child tonight. Read it with passion. Be that train whistle providing comfort to them as they fall asleep. 

Grandparents

     Hi to all you grandparents out there. There are more and more of you caring for grandchildren on a full time basis. Bless you for this. I hope you are loving this experience, in spite of all the difficulties, the second time around. On the other hand, some just see their grandchildren occasionally. When this is true, often awkward situations arise when the child misbehaves. What do you do when you don't agree with the parents way of dealing with the misbehavior?
     There is a book called Grandparenting With Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline, M.D. (There is also a Parenting With Love and Logic book). I found the book to be very down to earth and full of helpful ideas. They write that there are three kinds of grandparents: Helicopters, Drill Sergeants, and Consultants.
     I could never see myself as a Drill Sergeant, but there may be a little helicopter pilot in my brain somewhere that would cause me to hover. The preferred choice, as if we could choose which we wanted to be, is the consultant. I would try to be that, but the little pilot would probably often take over. I doubt that I have to describe what each of these three kinds of grandparents are, the name pretty well says it all.
     What kind of grandparent are you? Any experiences you want to share?

A good friend of mine related the story of how her father taught her a great lesson. Her father, a rather wealthy man, told her he could buy her anything she wanted, but he was not going to do that. Instead, he was going to give her something far more valuable than anything he could buy her--"I'm going to teach you how to earn your own way in life." He put his shoes out everyday and offered her a quarter to shine them. He gave her a list of ways to earn money: a dollar to wash the car, fifty cents to rake the leaves and on and on. She states she earned her first bicycle, thirty-five dollars worth, by doing these chores. To this day, she adores her father and speaks of the value of that lesson. An interesting side note is that this was in the time when girls were not expected to work or be the breadwinner.

Grandchildren

My adorable four year old granddaughter just this year started riding a school bus. On the bus are the usual primadonna fifteen and sixteen year olds. When a four year old begins to pick up the habits of fifteen year olds, this could be just cause for parents to start pulling their hair out. A four year old teenager!!
When the four year old in question came home one day and was saying, "Tsk. I don't care," about everything her mother said to her, Momma didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
She decided to let the little one know what "I don't care means." It means you don't get to watch a movie. You don't get to do things with the family. My wife's plan is to let her know that she has a brain and she needs to use that brain to figure out what is wise and good and should be remembered, and what is not so good should be deposited in the garbage and forgotten.
I must confess--I have no idea how to handle a four year old teenager.  

Welcome

The goal of my new blog is to give parents a forum that will aid in raising happy, successful children. As a writer, I am especially interested in developing good reading and writing skills for children, but, of course, there is much more to life and I hope to touch on some of everything.
So, let's start with teaching our children responsibility. I believe it starts by teaching them to do chores around the house and then praising them when they do a good job. When they are young, start with small tasks. As they get older, add chores that are more challenging. Do chores with them until they get how to do it without your help.
Don't pay them to do daily tasks like making their bed. Later you can pay them to do additional jobs like washing the car. Don't let them whine their way out of doing their responsibilities.
One tip to keep in mind: Don't try to teach a child anything when they are tired or hungry.
These are just a few ideas. How have you developed your child(ren)'s sense of responsibility? What do you do when a child refuses to do a chore or doesn't do it properly? Looking forward to chatting with you.