The parenting tool for this week is "Encouragement." My first thought was a quote from Toni Morrison ''Do your eyes light up when they walk into the room?'' That is such an encouraging quote and I decided to focus on "lighting up" when my kids walk into the room. What could be more encouraging than that?As I thought about how I could accomplish this goal, I noticed how easy it is to light up when my dog Gracie walks into the room. Those of you who are dog lovers know what I mean. When Gracie comes walking into the room with her tail wagging, I get a big smile on my face and I have to give her some love and attention.
What if I treated my kids like a dog I wondered? What would their reaction be if I greeted them with the same enthusiasm? "Emmmmmmmmmaaaaaaa! How's my girl today? You look so cute! Come give me a hug!" So I tried it...and guess what? My kids loved it!
Think about it. No matter how bad your day has been, if somebody greets you with that much enthusiasm, you can't help but smile. And that's what happened. My kids smiled and basked in the attention. Not only that, but I felt better too.
Treat your kids like a dog and you might be surprised how much more joy there is in your home. Who knows...they might even start fetching the newspaper and going on walks with you.
4 comments:
love it, will try it!
Brad, it seems we have exactly the same teens @ home... hilarious! I have a lot of chat with my girl and with my youngest boy who loves to share, but my-13-moody-teen is really hard to talk with. So most of the time I feel frustrated. I just loved your advice of "body language" reading. I will keep an eye on it. Thanks
This is such a great idea. I'm going to try this tomorrow. : )
Hi Brad,
I love my dog and I love this post. I've been pondering how to write a post that pulled out this idea. Would you be willing to be a guest blogger for me? Could I repost your blog? I don't know how that works but let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Lisa
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