Obedience

don't we all want obedience in our children? i recently heard a mom speak on teaching obedience to your kids, and i loved her ideas! (she's pregnant with her 6th boy, so she's had some experience!!) its basically that obedience is a learned behavior...we have to teach and train our kids how we want them to respond in obedience. it makes perfect sense! if we are expecting obedience, shouldn't we first train them? otherwise, the majority of training they get is when they disobey, and we are correcting, and it can become a negative thing. well, this mom had a great perspective...she "practices" obedience, so that when she really needs her kids to listen and obey, its natural. she will tell them they are going to practice...tells them exactly how she expects them to respond, and then she calls them from another room, and they "practice" that response. it becomes a game, and the kids have fun. you can give them silly commands like 'rub your tummy and count to 10', or 'toss the orange ball into the chair'...but it teaches them to respond immediately to your call, and obey whatever you are asking. anyway, i loved that idea of training....

the other thing she suggested that i really liked, is to find a phrase that you can engrain into their head. i'm totally stealing hers, cuz i loved it. she asks them "how do we obey?"...to which they respond "right away, all the way, and with a happy heart" .... i love that! i have already implemented that with my boys, and if there's a time that i see some feet dragging, i can stop them and just ask, "hey logan, how are we supposed to obey?", and then he tells me, and in saying it, realizes he's not doing what he knows he should be... and he changes his attitude! (most of the time) :):) ....anyway, i really loved this approach, and thought i would pass it on!