There are a lot of things around us ( both man-made and natural ) that kids don't understand. A good parent will know how to exploit that lack of understanding and use it for the better good of the home.
Example:
We have deer that regularly walk around the neighborhood. They even come into the yard and eat our bushes. Well one day the kids were misbehaving and the deer where in the yard. Seeing an opportunity to exploit our kids lack of knowledge about Santa Claus, we told them that the deer were Santa's deer. We said that they were here checking on the kid and they were going to go back and tell Santa that Hyrum and Ella were not being good kids. Well, it worked like a charm. Whatever they were doing wrong stop immediately. This exploit still works today. Any time the kids see the deer in the yard (which is all year long) the kids act like angels. We have even been able to extend it to times when we haven't seen the deer. We just mention that we saw the deer in the yard this morning and it still works.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tip #4 - Never ask your kids if your cool
Never ask your kids if your cool unless you're prepared for the truth.
Example:
Hyrum was telling us how cool his aunt's boyfriend was because of something he has. As a result of my lapse of judgment, I asked Hyrum "Daddy doesn't have that, so am I cool?" To which Hyrum promptly replied "No." He was correct in his assessment of my coolness and I know I'm not cool but no one wants it confirmed by a 5 year old.
As a general rule of thumb, never ask a question you don't want to know the answer to.
Example:
Hyrum was telling us how cool his aunt's boyfriend was because of something he has. As a result of my lapse of judgment, I asked Hyrum "Daddy doesn't have that, so am I cool?" To which Hyrum promptly replied "No." He was correct in his assessment of my coolness and I know I'm not cool but no one wants it confirmed by a 5 year old.
As a general rule of thumb, never ask a question you don't want to know the answer to.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tip #3 - If you have your kids run in circles long enough they will run out of energy
Have you every had one of those nights where the kids are so full of energy they won't go to sleep? The simple solution is to have them run in circles. Eventually they will run out of energy.
Example:
Example:
Remember to use circles. Running in circles will make them too dizzy to fight you when you put them in bed.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tip #2 - Grandparents have a greater influence on your kids than you do
It is sad but true, children listen to their grandparents more than they listen to their parents.
Example:
Another Hyrum story for you. Hyrum loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That is his request for every meal. He usually eats 5 or 6 pb&j sandwiches a week. The problem with this was that he would refuse to eat the crust. So he would always ask us to cut the crust off. Well, since he never eats anything we decided it was better to go through the trouble of cutting off the crust than not have him eat the sandwich. So for years we have cut off the crust. Periodically we tried to convince him to eat the crust but to no avail. So a few months back, Grandma and Grandpa were visiting and Grandpa was making Hyrum a pb&j sandwich. Hyrum naturally asked Grandpa to cut off the crust to which Grandpa promptly explained that the crust is what gives us big muscles. Hyrum naturally believed his Grandpa and since that day Hyrum has always eaten the crust on his sandwiches.
So the moral of the story is that if there is something you want your kids to do or believe, have Grandma or Grandpa tell them, I guarantee you will have greater success.
Example:
Another Hyrum story for you. Hyrum loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That is his request for every meal. He usually eats 5 or 6 pb&j sandwiches a week. The problem with this was that he would refuse to eat the crust. So he would always ask us to cut the crust off. Well, since he never eats anything we decided it was better to go through the trouble of cutting off the crust than not have him eat the sandwich. So for years we have cut off the crust. Periodically we tried to convince him to eat the crust but to no avail. So a few months back, Grandma and Grandpa were visiting and Grandpa was making Hyrum a pb&j sandwich. Hyrum naturally asked Grandpa to cut off the crust to which Grandpa promptly explained that the crust is what gives us big muscles. Hyrum naturally believed his Grandpa and since that day Hyrum has always eaten the crust on his sandwiches.
So the moral of the story is that if there is something you want your kids to do or believe, have Grandma or Grandpa tell them, I guarantee you will have greater success.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tip #1 - It's not wrong to use your children's fears against them
God gave children fears for a reason, so parents could use those fears to get their children to do what they want them to do.
Example:
Before I get into the example there are a couple of things you need to know.
1st Hyrum's scared of spiders
2nd Hyrum's room is in the basement
3rd We have spiders in the basement
4th A week or so before this happened I had noticed a small spider living behind Hyrum's bed and I hadn't got around to killing it
5th We live in an old house so the walls are made of plaster
6th Hyrum likes to make holes in the walls
So here's the example. We have told Hyrum (he was 4 when this happened) a million times not to make holes in the walls. Any time he finds a crack or hole he tries to make it bigger by digging at it with anything he can get his hands on. It drives me crazy because I have to go fix the hole he just made. One day we were in the living room and Hyrum started picking at a small hole in the wall. I was sick of telling him to stop so I told him that spiders can get into the house through the holes that he makes in the walls. I said that the spiders would come in through the holes and climb into his bed. This freaked him out and he stopped digging at the hole. Well, that night when I was putting him to bed I remembered that there was a spider living behind his bed. So to reinforce the story I had told him about the spiders getting into his bed, I pulled his bed out and showed him the spider that had "come in through the hole he made and climbed into his bed." This really really really freaked him out and he has never made another hole in my walls. In fact it worked so well that when my 2 year old started digging at holes in the walls he told her to stop and warned her about the spiders that would get into her bed. Mission accomplished.
Example:
Before I get into the example there are a couple of things you need to know.
1st Hyrum's scared of spiders
2nd Hyrum's room is in the basement
3rd We have spiders in the basement
4th A week or so before this happened I had noticed a small spider living behind Hyrum's bed and I hadn't got around to killing it
5th We live in an old house so the walls are made of plaster
6th Hyrum likes to make holes in the walls
So here's the example. We have told Hyrum (he was 4 when this happened) a million times not to make holes in the walls. Any time he finds a crack or hole he tries to make it bigger by digging at it with anything he can get his hands on. It drives me crazy because I have to go fix the hole he just made. One day we were in the living room and Hyrum started picking at a small hole in the wall. I was sick of telling him to stop so I told him that spiders can get into the house through the holes that he makes in the walls. I said that the spiders would come in through the holes and climb into his bed. This freaked him out and he stopped digging at the hole. Well, that night when I was putting him to bed I remembered that there was a spider living behind his bed. So to reinforce the story I had told him about the spiders getting into his bed, I pulled his bed out and showed him the spider that had "come in through the hole he made and climbed into his bed." This really really really freaked him out and he has never made another hole in my walls. In fact it worked so well that when my 2 year old started digging at holes in the walls he told her to stop and warned her about the spiders that would get into her bed. Mission accomplished.
Why I started this blog
So I've been a father for 5 years now. Over the past 5 years my wife and I have learned many valuable lessons about raising children and we continue to learn new lessons every day. I thought it was unfair to keep our knowledge a secret from the rest of the parenting world. So I thought I would start a blog to disseminate our knowledge to anyone who whats to read it. Enjoy.
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