[THE SEMINAR]The parenting seminar on Saturday went great. We had a fabulous turn out, and I was once again inspired by the information Nicholeen gave us and the vision she cast for our families. What was even better was for Scott to hear it with me!! The only thing I wish was that I'd have been able to have Nicholeen and Spencer stay with my family so I could have been able to hang out with them more. Oh well!!
So, ever since the seminar we've been talking about how we can incorporate even more of what we've learned from Nicholeen into our home. We decided that we're just going to focus on a few things each week. This week we decided to implement couple meetings and family meetings (which we've been spotty on both for a while). We also decide to do a special 'training' (or brush up really because we've talked about this before) on how to accept instructions, no answers, and how to disagree appropriately.
[Couple and Family Meetings]
The 'rules' and 'guidelines' Nicholeen suggests for these two VERY important family meetings has made all the difference in them being successful for our family. We've been kind of doing them inconsistently for the past 6 months or so, so I know they work!! But for some reason we haven't been super consistent with them. After hearing Nicholeen talk about them again on Saturday, Scott and I were recommitted to start holding consistent couple and family meetings. I'm so glad she reminded me how important these are. They really set the tone, and make parenting so much easier. Yesterday we had our meetings, and already its made such a difference.
[Family Training]
Tonight we had our family activity which included, dinner, root beer floats, and some training for us and the kids. Yesterday, Scott and I decided what our default system was when a child decided to...not listen to instructions or accept a no answer. We wanted to first teach the kids what we expected them to do when they were given an instruction or told no to something. Then we wanted to do some roll playing so we could all practice.
First, Scott explained how we expected them to act when asked to do something or when told no. It was awesome to see their little faces fill with confidence as they understood what was expected of them. Scott then taught the kiddos how to disagree appropriately. They were totally excited about this one. I loved telling them that we don't expect them to always be happy when they are told no to something, but we do them to stay in control and disagree appropriately. I think these are all such great adult skills to learn...what a jump start they are getting to learn them as children!!
In order to get a rootbeer float each child had to go through the training and pass it off by roll playing it with Scott. We all had a great time as we practiced our new skills, and gained clarity on what is expected in our home. I'm so excited to keep practicing these parenting skills, so my home is a place of love, order, and joy!
