First up - guest posts! I write monthly for two great homeschool sites, check out my latest!
Bend It Don't Break It - Character Training for Toddlers at The Homeschool Village
Perfect Fall Apple Recipes - A Collection of Mouth Watering Recipes with Apples
The next few topics have to do character and discipline issues with the teens. Some days, do you ever feel completely unqualified to parent? Yeah. That's how I felt earlier today. But then I remember what I was like as a teen (sorry mom) and realize this is all part of the territory of growing up, building character muscle and self control. Here's the issues we've been working on today.
Dog Pee
How do you teach the difference between "Work Smarter Not Harder" and lazy shortcuts? Billy is such a smart boy, I have said many times before, he has an engineer's mind. He is always looking for ways to be more efficient and improve the design of anything he gets his hands on. But I'm afraid, with work, this efficient trait has crossed over into the area of laziness. He is Dog Boy this week. The afternoon "walk" with our Irish Setter has turned into a 1 minute step outside the door. Not enough. This of course turned into an after dinner waterfall of dog pee on our carpet. (I'm so thankful for my steam cleaner!) This child makes SO MUCH extra work for himself by taking short cuts the first time. I've been hoping that he would learn on his own that laziness = more work later. But it just hasn't clicked. Any tips for me?
Facebook
First thing this morning Tony lost his Facebook privleges. Why? Well, we allow our teens to have Facebook with the stipulation that they, for security reasons, do not play any games etc that require access to their account (curse you Farmville!). Guess who has repeatedly broken this rule? Yeah. How do you teach integrity? It's so hard. I'm struggling to teach this really sweet and loving child that right is right and wrong is wrong and rules are rules even if you think no one is watching. But it hasn't sunk in. In his mind there is a different set of right and wrong depending on whose house he is at. Have any advice for this situation?
Tattoos
My son, Fox, wants a tattoo. This is something he has occasionally brought up over the last year. And the answer is no every time. The answer will continue to be no until he is 18 AND not living in my house. The tattoo he wants is of a specific Bible verse. Because it's a Christian tattoo he thinks it should be okay. Mmm hmm. This is a respect issue. The answer is no, the answer will stay no and yet he has continued to bring it up. We're working on respect. My words to him were "You are not called to understand or even like our decisions as parents, you are called to respect and obey. I have been 15, you have not yet been 32 so you need to trust me when I tell you you do not yet have enough experience to fully understand the ramifications of a tattoo." Such a tough lesson.
Parenting Tips
Please hear me when I say I love these kids - I am NOT complaining. They make me laugh everyday, we've shared a lot of laughter today even. I'm simply sharing what went on in my home today - the things that made me go hmmm. And I'm desiring some advice from my intelligent readers (that's you!).
No advice here, just empathy. We've dealt with all those issues and haven't found a magic formula yet. Hopefully knowing you're not alone will offset your disappointment that I don't have any good advice. I just saw on Facebook that my daughter-in-law got a verse tattoed on her lower calf. Ouch andYuck!
ReplyDeleteon the tattoos: My husband and I thought tattoos were so cool and both got one on our honeymoon--then over the next few years got more and more. Now that I have children I just don't want to have them any more. I am so thankful that I had the forethought to put them in places that are easily covered, but still, when I go to doctor or when I've gone to the hospital to have babies, the doctors and nurses notice them. My husband has serious regrets about having them on his forearms. He feels judged and embarrassed to go into many situations without a long-sleeved shirt: like church, job interviews, or when meeting new people. He told me once he'd considered taking a cheese grater to his arm to get rid of them. As far as it being a bible verse-- People don't usually take the time to investigate what a tattoo says or means, it's just there and you are instantly put in a category.
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