Fascinating video!

I’ve always been a lover of babies. And babies have almost always loved me. I don’t know if it is something about my face or my voice, but it is a very rare baby that doesn’t respond to me with a lot of joy. So when I was expecting Caroline, I expected to really enjoy her as a baby. I thought the time between infant/baby and age three or so would be my least favorite.

In actuality, it has turned out just the opposite.

I did not enjoy the infant stage as much as I thought I would. (That’s another post.) But I have absolutely loved the 18-23 months we’ve been going through.

Part of it is just the relationship. When she was an infant, there simply was not enough relationship for me to enjoy. (That’s another post, too.) But this little chatty, inquisitive, learning something new every hour child is just a delight to me.

Last weekend when we sat down in church before the service started, Caroline promptly jumped back down and began pulling the Bibles out of the pew rack. As she handed one to me and then one to David, she loudly pronounced, “Bible!” When she was done distributing the Bibles, she climbed back on to the pew and said, “Amen!” At the very least, the pastor and elders know that we are teaching her something at home! But I was so thrilled that she made the connection between what goes on at home and what goes on at church.

Last week I asked her, “Who loves you?” I was fully expecting her to answer, “Mama” or “Daddy.” Her answer? “Jesus.” My heart was just filled with joy! So I asked her who else loved her. “God.” I stopped asking the question. That was enough for me!

Sorry I haven’t jumped in on the reverse psychology discussion (I finally did!) or posted in a week. I’ve been enjoying life, working a lot, enjoying a visit from my parents, LOVING the cooler temps, sleeping, walking, and speed watching Season 4 of Family Ties which came in from the library.

Those of you who have been reading my blogging for more than a year or two have probably noticed that I’m a lot more laid back about blogging here than I ever was in the past. I kind of get around to it when I get around to it as opposed to feeling compelled to write something new all the time.

Hope to be back later this evening with a post! :-)

Two new articles up on Suite101 if you are interested. And with these I finally made it to 50! (That means I get a bonus now so that’s why I’ve been pushing along these past several days.)

Enjoy!

An Honest Look at Becoming a Teacher

New Teacher Tips for Great First Day of School

Someone was recently telling me about how they got a child to do something they wanted. It was classic reverse psychology. Telling them, “Don’t eat that item” in an attempt to make it enticing so they will do it.

I was thinking about this today while we were eating supper. We had Belgian waffles and, for the very first time, Caroline wanted maple syrup on them and eagerly ate them that way. In the past, she would eat the waffles but did not want them adulterated in any way with strawberries or maple syrup. I just let it go and eventually she came around on her own and asked for the syrup. The same thing has happened with several different food items. I keep putting them on her plate and if she doesn’t eat them, I just dump them. I’m not going to get into battles over food. She is generally a good eater so if she doesn’t want something, I just don’t make an issue over it.

So that got me thinking about this comment about reverse psychology. And, truthfully, I had never thought about it before as it pertains to parents getting children to do things. But after a little reflection, I’m thinking…

Isn’t it the same as lying?

You aren’t being truthful with the child. You are telling them one thing when, in fact, you want something completely different.

This truth thing is big for me which is why we won’t do Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. (I know some people disagree with that train of thought and that’s between them and God and their children.) But I want Caroline to know that we will always be truthful with her as far as possible and as far as it is age appropriate. And this just seemed like a form of falsehood to me when I thought about it.

So what do you think?

Edited to add: I was thinking about this more and… When using reverse psychology, you are basically telling the child you want them to disobey you. Think about it. You are telling them NOT to do something in the hope that they will. In order to do what you WANT them to do, they have to DISOBEY what you have verbalized. Doesn’t that set a terrible precedence for them understanding obedience?

No babysitter this week since she was on vacation with family

Big project deadline for client

GORGEOUS COOL weather so were out and about a lot

Trying to get to 50 total articles on Suite101

Walking 40 minutes a day… no. matter. what.

Getting 7 hours of sleep at night… no. matter. what.

And my yearly guilty pleasure each August/September… spending, um, a lot of time reading sorority recruitment (rush) stories on Greek Chat

So there you have it. Hopefully I’ll be back to posting soon! :-)

Good stuff below…

I Used to be a Homeschooling Mom from Adventures in Mercy (Don’t miss the great comments either!)

Son of Hamas Leader Turns Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity from FOXNews.com

U.S. Congregational Membership from The Association of Religious Data Archives (This could be a primo time waster for the right person…)

Yale Student to Bring Her Own Little House to Campus from courant.com

FEMA Map Service Center (Find out if you live in a flood plain. Just type your address in the box on the top left.)

Enjoy!  :-)

I’m continuing to spend my free moments pushing toward my personal Suite101 goal for this week and have put up two more book reviews:

Book Review: Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills

Book Review: The Busy Mom’s Guide to Simple Living

Just a note about the Busy Mom book… This was one of the first books I read about simple living way back in 1997, shortly after we were married. It had a profound impact on me. Along with a few other books, it really changed my attitude and outlook about our lifestyle and what I hoped to have in the future. I’m pretty sure it is out of print, but I still went ahead and reviewed it anyway since it is a favorite book and I’m sure there are used copies to be found. Has anyone else read it?

I’ve been busy today! Part of my motivation is that I’ve almost reached a personal goal in my Suite101 writing so I’m pushing to get there.

Here are two more articles if they are of interest to you. These are about some of my very, very favoritest books.

Book Review: The Complete Tightwad Gazette

Warm, Inspiring Books by Thomas Kinkade

Enjoy!

I’ve mentioned before my strong interest in Charlotte Mason as a homeschooling philosophy. I’ll write more about that in the days to come. But I did want to link to a great post Spunky did recently related to this very topic. She has a wealth of excellent links to share so be sure to check them out! See: What are living books?

I also have a interest in the classical model since I taught at a classical Christian school and found many of their ideas excellent. So this post also resonated with me: The Logic of Parenting.

As an aside… I know some people say that being a teacher before they became a parent or a homeschooler was not helpful or was even a detriment. I am of the exact opposite persuasion. I am so glad I was a teacher and have worked in the field of education for so many years. It gave me lots of time to observe, learn, discuss, and evaluate before Caroline was born. Having this background with children and curriculum has already been so valuable and I don’t really expect that to change in the years ahead.

Enjoy! :-)