Taming the Hurricane in the House
No, I'm not talking about the recently begun hurricane season in the Gulf Coast region. We live in sunny Northern California where all we have to fear is the "big quake" which will hit someday. That's okay, though. Even that is in God's hands.
I'm talking about the hurricane otherwise known as my kids.
Just over a month ago, I delivered a baby and Evers started a month of family leave to help at home. Now he is back at work and I've resumed my daily duties. This evening I found it difficult to make dinner with the kids running around and playing wildly. It finally dawned on me (yes, it takes a while now to remember things) that I can have the kids sit still while I make dinner. We've been training the kids to sit still for the purpose of sitting with us during church service as well as training for self-control.
So here's what I did: I had all three children (the baby was asleep at the time) sit in separate chairs, away from each other so they don't try to play with each other. I then set a recently purchased kitchen timer for 15 minutes. They did fabulously! I was so proud. My only regret was that I didn't set the timer for longer. I really think they could sit for 30 minutes or more. While I made dinner, they sat and sang. When their voices got too loud, I told them to quiet down. I'm very happy that we've started this type of training now because it is quite a daunting task to care for four young children, all four and under without implementing some means of keeping them from getting out of control!
I'm talking about the hurricane otherwise known as my kids.
Just over a month ago, I delivered a baby and Evers started a month of family leave to help at home. Now he is back at work and I've resumed my daily duties. This evening I found it difficult to make dinner with the kids running around and playing wildly. It finally dawned on me (yes, it takes a while now to remember things) that I can have the kids sit still while I make dinner. We've been training the kids to sit still for the purpose of sitting with us during church service as well as training for self-control.
So here's what I did: I had all three children (the baby was asleep at the time) sit in separate chairs, away from each other so they don't try to play with each other. I then set a recently purchased kitchen timer for 15 minutes. They did fabulously! I was so proud. My only regret was that I didn't set the timer for longer. I really think they could sit for 30 minutes or more. While I made dinner, they sat and sang. When their voices got too loud, I told them to quiet down. I'm very happy that we've started this type of training now because it is quite a daunting task to care for four young children, all four and under without implementing some means of keeping them from getting out of control!
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