Change is Good

Last week, Michael had us all sit down for a family meeting, to discuss some household rules and organization that he's been taking note of that need work. We created what is often called an "If/Then" chart. The chart has one column that lists common offenses that happen in our home, the next column lists what the consequence of the offense are, and we are working on another column that lists scripture or a Biblical teaching in regards to the offense. This has worked wonders!

For example, even though we've told the boys so many times "no running in the house"... it was still something that happened frequently. For some reason, having it on a visible chart has made it so much easier for all of us. For me, its been helpful with the discipline. Previously, the boys would start running and I'd remind them "no running". They'd settle down... for a bit... and then a few hours (or days) later, once again running would begin. And I would doubt myself and think "maybe they forgot" or "are they actually disobeying if I haven't warned them this time?" Or I'd get frustrated that I HAD just told them a few hours ago and I'd yell! :-( Now, when running begins (and, since we started this, it is almost completely eliminated!), I just stop the offender, bring them to the chart, and enforce the consequences.

Our consequence for this was to have the runner sit for 15 minutes, without talking, playing, reading, anything... just sit. The first day we enforced the chart, everyone spent almost the entire day sitting! The next day, everyone spent at least one turn sitting... and since then, we have had very, very few incidences!

A few other offenses we have on the chart so far are things like lying, yelling, talking back to parents, grumbling or bad attitudes, interrupting, etc. Things that can sometimes be vague enough to make discipline difficult, now have an established pattern.

Another rule Michael instituted is the "one dish rule". Previously, at the end of every day, I'd have a sink full of kids' dishes - numerous cups, plates, bowls, etc. Michael determined that each day, each child would get ONE bowl, ONE plate, and ONE cup assigned to them. We use plastic dishes for the kids, so there is a variety of colors available, making it easy to remember whose is whose. At the end of each meal, they are responsible for washing their dish in the sink, and putting it up to dry. Then, when it is time for another meal, they get the same dish back. The kids love washing their dishes (fun with soap and water!) and I love not having such a full sink at the end of the day. It is working wonderfully!

It was such a blessing to have Michael take charge of what takes up alot of my day (the disciplining of the children) and take alot of the stress out of it. I'm very thankful to have a husband who takes the training and nurturing of his children in the Lord seriously!