My four year old son was standing on the back porch this afternoon, talking to his sister.  They were trying to make each other laugh by doing funny things.  This is a common game with the two of them.  All of the sudden I heard a loud BANG on the window located right next to the porch.  I ran to the door [...]

A viewer of this site wrote:
 My kids LOVE being able to disagree appropriately, but I don’t want them to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME!  They are smart and have good reasons for wanting to do things a different way, and sometimes I am very happy to let them change our direction.  But I don’t like [...]

I participate in a couple of monthly discussion groups.  The conversations at these groups are really inspiring, not to mention thought provoking. 
Last week at one of these groups, the topic turned to how much alone time parents need to be refreshed and ready to meet all of the tasks we have on our daily lists.  We [...]

Don’t forget your meetings! 
 
Family meetings are the core of teaching self government.  If you have weekly family meetings, the whole family will stay focused on their family government.  See what happens when you miss a few weeks, it is noticeable.  In my home it is especially noticeable with Dad.  He has less patience and focus [...]

Today:
Wake up 5:00 am    -  Teach Water Aerobics 6:00-7:00 am   -    Buy Food for Bridal Shower tomorrow  -   Get kids ready and leave house by 8:45 am to be mentored for piano performance at the University next week -  Mentor Session in Salt Lake City  10:30-12:00  -  Drop off Library books   -  Eat lunch on the go   -   [...]

2 - What kind of opportunities do you give for kids to follow through before getting consequences?
Example:  It is each child’s responsibility to make their bed, tidy their bedroom, get dressed to shoes before breakfast at 7:30.  I try to say encouraging things to get kids to hurry along, letting them know how much time [...]

In our family meeting this Sunday a topic was brought up that our family needs to do more service.  We asked for suggestions.  After going over many options, we decided that Dad would call a ranch in our community that might need our help and see if we could come do some REAL hard WORK. 
 
Good hard work strengthens [...]

A blog reader wrote:
1 - We don’t have a “rule” or certain consequence set up for every behavior in the book (nor do we want so many specific rules!)  So, I’m wondering if “just-plain-not-doing-what-you-know-you-should” (be kind, be respectful, be responsible, be honest, don’t hit, tease, talk back, etc.) would be considered “not following instructions”, and [...]

Today the family did lots of yard work.  We decided that we are on vacation this week.  That means a break from the regular routine.  We usually do this a couple of times per year to get all the yard and garden stuff done.
After we had worked for many hours the three younger children went [...]

“I agree that there are definitely times I want my kids to tell me about what’s been happening, and you mentioned that you make sure your foster kids know the difference between the two–how do you that?  Sometimes it’s really hard for ME to tell when it’s reporting, and when it’s tattling.  Besides physically hurting [...]