Do you have a routine?

Wow, where have the last 9 months gone?! I can't believe how long it's been since the last time I've posted on here! But I'm back again and hope to stick with it a lot longer now that we've gotten past holidays and birthdays and that I'm stepping up my training with the kids...Honestly, truth be told, I did forget my password and couldn't post some of the things I was wanting to post. I finally sat down today and figured out how to reset my password.

I've been reading this great book called "Good and Angry -- Exchanging Frustration for Character in You and Your Kids!" by Scott Turansky. The title caught my attention since I've been experiencing anger and frustration lately towards my kids behavior and I was looking for ways to resolve my angry feelings. I loved how this book addressed anger as not being necessary a bad thing (yes, it can be and the Bible warns us about sinning when being angry in Ephesians 4:26) but rather how to use our anger as an opportunity to address and solve what is causing us to be angry in the first place. Did you get that? So instead of always getting angry at your kids for say, not listening to you, come up with a way to solve the problem of your kids not listening to you and there goes away your anger! Sounds pretty simple huh?

Do you have a routine at home? A routine maybe for how you schedule your day? Or how you go about cleaning the kitchen? Or what you have the kids do each night before bed? I'm sure all of you have some type of routine in your family. This book explains how to create routines to resolve behavior issues with your kids, those particular behavior issues that cause you frustration.

So since we used the example above of children not listening to you, here is the recommended routine to help resolve any anger and frustration you get when your children don't listen to you. This is from the book "Good and Angry":

Step 1: Get Close Together - the child comes when called
Step 2: Consider the timing - the child responds
Step 3: Give the instructions - the child answers
Step 4: Wait - the child does the job
Step 5: Child checks back with you - you inspect

For more details on these steps consider reading the book for yourself. Also, I plan to post more on first time obedience - which the first step is coming when you call your child's name later this week. It's something that has slipped recently in our household.