Our Morning Training

I just wanted to share with you how our morning training session went today...Owen had ants in his pants so we had to practice quite a few times sitting quiet and still and showing mommy his "quiet hands" in order to get through the training I wanted to cover with them.

For this morning's training we covered what obedience is and what it means to obey and how the Bible tells us we need to obey our parents. We talked about what it meant to obey right away, all the way and with a happy heart. Owen told me right away means to say "yes, mommy". All the way means to come and touch mommy's leg or arm (he did get a bit carried away and offered the idea of also being able to touch mommy's eyes or nose as well...). And he showed me what a happy heart looks like. We then practiced our quiet play on our "lily pads". Both kids sat and played quietly for 10 minutes. Anna did much better than Owen did this morning on this. Owen had to practice his quiet hands afterwards since he didn't do a good job practicing being quiet on his lily pad.

We played a new game today I came up with called "Yes, Mommy". It is based on the idea of "Mother May I" but instead of the kids saying "Mother May I?" I call one of their names, they say "Yes, Mommy" then I give them an instruction (like touch your toes) and they need to say "Yes, Mommy". This is good training to practice since you want your children to say "yes, mommy" after you call their name or give them instructions so you know they heard you. Also, by them saying "yes, mommy" it makes them have ownership to the instructions given. The kids did pretty good with this game for being the first day playing.

Owen was more interesting in practicing "right away" which we did next. The kids took off to the kitchen and waited for me to call their names. Then they would say "yes mommy, I'm coming" and come to where I am at, touch my leg and show me their happy faces. We did this about 5 times for each kid.

Our last training we did has to do with obedience regarding health and safety. I want to be able to say stop or sit to my child and they do it right away. So we practice it. I have the kids walk around the coffee table and wait to listen to me say "Stop". I'm working with them to also say "yes, mommy" as they are stopping -- we still have some work to do with this. Then I will tell them "Sit down". We go back and forth between stop and sit down. Then I'll just call one kids name and tell them to stop or sit down. Both kids really love playing this!

When I set up the premise of the game to Owen and Anna I shared with them how mommy and daddy have to obey rules too. One rule we have to obey is stop signs when we drive so we stay safe. If mommy decided not to stop at the sign like she is told, mommy could end up crashing her car. And that is very dangerous. So just like it is important for mommy to obey when she is told to stop - Owen and Anna must obey too when they are told to stop. We just played it yesterday for the first time and then today I didn't go through the explanation with the kids. As we were starting to play Owen tells me "wait, wait mom. Just like you have to stop at the signs we have to stop too" and he proceeded to explain to me what I told them yesterday about the importance of stopping when told.

I have really been amazed at how much the kids take in and learn, especially during the non-conflict training times we have!

One person asked how I have time to update a blog with everything else that goes on during the day -- that's one of the benefits of having a scheduled day and times for your kids to have room time. Right now they are in their rooms playing, which frees me to do somethings I'd like to be doing...like updating this blog!