This week's theme...

Since we were sick last week and didn't do training all but of 2 days, I've decided to continue with the Kindness theme.

Today we did our training time we reviewed some skills we had been practicing that needed some more work on. We practiced our quiet and still time and talked about the importance of obeying mommy and daddy. Since we will be leaving on a cruise in 4 weeks and my parents are coming up to watch the kids while we are gone, I asked the kids today if Grammy was a parent or a child. Owen really had to think that one over and then said sheepishly "child". (I've noticed with him when playing educational games or doing worksheets that I know he knows the answer to he'll purposely answer it incorrectly...this is something I'm trying to work on without making a big deal about since in school wrong answers whether as a joke or not will get you bad grades.) Anyway, so we talked about how Grammy and Pop-Pop are parents and that Owen and Anna need to also obey Grammy and Pop-Pop.

We went through some other pages in my "Cook Family Virtue" scrapbook and talked about what the Cook's are and what the Cook's aren't. The Cook's don't lie. We tell the truth. The Cook's obey authority. The Cook's are kind to everybody...

We ended training time with a quick game of "Truth or Lie" and "Kind or Unkind". For the "Kind or Unkind" I would give the kids a scenario, for example "Owen, if your friend Seth was over playing with your blocks and he had made a big, huge tower. And if Owen came over and knocked Seth's tower over, would that be kind or unkind?" Owen answered "unkind". Then I asked what would have been the kind thing to do instead? We talked about maybe asking Seth if Owen could play with the blocks too. Or maybe Owen ask Seth if he could have a turn playing with the blocks when Seth was done. Or even maybe Owen just find a different toy to play with.

Anyway, it was nice to have training time again and the kids really do enjoy sitting there as we go through the "Cook Family Virtues" scrapbook learning about what the Bible has to say about how we are to behavior and to practice and talk about the right things to do.

What kinds of things are you working on with your kids this week?

Training Time, Schedules, and Kindness

We just finished our training time for today on Kindness. This brings up a point I wanted to make about scheduling your day...don't be legalistic about your schedule or you may have a really hard time sticking to it and/or be so frustrated about it. For example, this morning when I typically do training time, I had actually dropped the kids off at the sitters while I was at our Moms' Group Meeting. I don't let our schedule rule over our day. If something comes up, we do it and either try to do training time later during the day or there are some days it just gets skipped...and that's no big deal. The important thing is to make sure you have a schedule and you do stick to it the majority of the time...there are so many benefits for you and especially for your kids when you have a schedule. And if you're one of those that have a hard time sticking to one, just start doing the same things in the same order a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden your kids will remind you "Oh, after breakfast mom, we need to do our training time!".

So this week's moral training theme is on kindness. Today we read a the book "God, I need to talk to you about hurting others". Both my kids were so into this book. I changed some of the wording (yes moms, you can do that to fit what you are trying to teach) to really drive home the point of kindness and unkindness. Our memory verse for the week is "Be kind to EVERYONE!" and the kids LOVE shouting the EVERYONE part. We played "Kind or Unkind" and I really stressed some of the unkind things I see Owen do when his friends are over to play. We talked about the "Golden Rule" and how we need to make sure the way we treat other people is how we would want them to treat us. We really love the Toddler Virtues Book and they have "Kitty Shows Kindness" and both kids liked telling me what the Kitty was doing that was kind. We ended training time with watching the DVD Auto B Good on kindness called "Bully Bully". It really helped drive the point of being kind to others, even if they aren't being kind to us.

I know that seems like a lot to cover with an almost 4 yr old and a 2 yr old, but I honestly think outside of the DVD it was around 15 minutes reading the stories and playing the "Kind or Unkind" game.

Hope you are getting some ideas on how to teach your kids about kindness. Oh, I typically save the Uncle Aurther Bedtime Stories for, well bedtime (go figure, huh!). It's a nice close to the day and I like how usually we start our morning with training time and our moral virtue for the week lessons then right before bed we revisit what we learned in the morning with stories.

How are some ways you are teaching your kids about being kind to everyone?

Be Kind To Each Other

So this week is all about the moral of being kind. Here are some things that I plan to cover with the kids this week as we learn the importance of being kind.

Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories:
Kindness -
vol 1 God's Hands pg 140
vol 2 A Cry in the Night pg 53
vol 2 One Good Turn pg 125
vol 3 Mysterious Rider pg 101
vol 4 The Tears of Jesus pg 29
vol 5 The Lighthouse Children pg 45
Golden Rule -
vol 1 Those Gooseberries pg 135
vol 2 Attacked by Bandits pg 120

First Virtues for Toddlers: Kitty Shows Kindness

Hermie and Friends DVD: To Share or Nut to Share
Auto B Good DVD vol 4 on Kindness

When we did our lessons on Truthfulness we played a game called "Truth or Lie" and I would pick things around the house and say a truth or lie about them and the kids had to tell me if what I was saying was a truth or a lie. They really liked the game and so I'm going to do the same thing for kindness. So I'll pick pictures or say things or do things and the kids will have to tell me if it was kind or unkind. Here are some ideas to get you started on your own version of "Kind or Unkind":
* If mommy were to pull the doggy's tail, would that be kind or unkind?
* If Anna grabbed a toy away from Owen that he was playing with, would that be kind or unkind?
* If Owen crashed into toys his friends were playing with, would that be kind or unkind?
* If Owen were to not share his toys with others, would that be kind or unkind?
* If Anna splashes water out of the bathtub, would that be kind or unkind?
* If Owen cleared his dishes off the table when he was finished eating, would that be kind or unkind?
* If Anna saw her friend wanted to play with her doll and she shared her doll with her friend, would that be kind or unkind?

To take it a step further, ask you kids and talk with them about why each of the things you say is either kind or unkind. And for the unkind things, ask what could we do so it was a kind thing to do. For ideas at home, think about the things your kids do during the day that are either kind or unkind and use those as your examples for your game of "Kind or Unkind". And remember training time should be fun - so have fun with it!

How are you teaching your kids about kindness at home?

Kindness

This week's moral training topic will be on kindness, specially around the verse found in Matthew 7:12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Lately Owen has been having a hard time with this concept -- mainly because we haven't really had any non-conflict training on it. He'll get frustrated that someone takes a toy from him or crashes a tower he has just built but he has no issues taking something from someone else or crashing into their toys. It has made having friends over to play a bit embarrassing since he seems to make it his mission to crash into whatever they are playing with or taking the toy away from them.

So come back tomorrow to see how our morning training went on "Kindness". In the meanwhile, why not share some ideas on how you teach kindness in your home!

As a side note, I came across this site http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/child-training/ that looks like it has some good articles!