Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Behavior at our House

Behavior can be such an issue at our house. It ranges from the behavior of a Saint to the Devil himself. Not only with the kids but with our critters too. If you have read some of my other ramblings, you would know exactly what I am referring to. For example: Biscuit (our black cat) walks around the house picking on Mindy (our Schnauzer). Biscuit will even chase Mindy. Really, she does. JD, he can be the sweetest little guy, but there are times when (I believe) that his head spins around.

Today JD just happened to be a Saint. We even had a couple of interruptions during class today. Yesterday I was certainly hoping for the best. I wasn't let down. I know that I will have to deal with the Devil himself, but not today in class. I am breathing a sigh of relief because I have been blessed with a nice day. Even on the bad days, I know that I am blessed, but sometimes it is just hard to see the blessings.

Today I tried something a little different. In the morning I did class with WW and JD. MJ and I worked together on his books in the afternoon. I know it makes for a long day but it really worked. Well, today it worked. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

I am really enjoying the Lifepac. At this point we haven't bought the Bible curriculum, but I will buy it. The Language Arts, Math, History and Geography and the Science curriculum have enough reference to the Bible that makes it really interesting. The boys keep telling me that we need to get the Bible curriculum. Superman wants us all to do the Bible curriculum together. I think this would be a wonderful thing for us to do as a family.

Right now WW and JD are playing outside in the pool. They are sword fighting. I look out the window and see their faces smiling and their teeth shining from laughing. A second look and I see CoCo standing by the pool watching the boys play. What a glorious sight! Sitting beside me is MJ reading from his Science book. He has some trouble reading some of the words but I have to give him credit, because he sure does try really hard.

I keep thinking about a reward system, but the more I think about it the more I get confused. Well, not really confused but...it's hard to put into just one word. I remember my parents had a reward system - it went something like this. Behave and you won't get a spanking. Behave and you won't get restriction. I bet some of you remember your parents reward system. I know I certainly do! Nowadays all of the child experts (whoever they are) tell us that our children need rewards. A hug isn't good enough. In today's society we are supposed to take them somewhere and spend money on them. Buy them a toy, an ice cream or some other thing that says you did a good job. Manners are behavior. If you scream in class, you have bad manners. If you sneeze all over the table while eating supper, you have bad manners. Bad manners = bad behavior. Good manners = good behavior. It's pretty darn simple to me. But I know, I have to have a little compassion and a little empathy. Give me a little credit, at least I am trying! LOL

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