Thinking Chair

                         It has been a looooooong time since I have had to use this concept with my little man. He is nine already (giant gasp), unfortunately for him I still see this little baby face when I look at him. Super unfortunate when his friends are around and I want to smother him with kisses, that are now wiped off. ***But, when no one is around he melts back into that little boy and loves to snuggle his mama (shhh don’t tell).

          Before he matured into the well mannered little man he is today he was a toddler, yikes! Somewhere early on in my parenting adventure I heard of this new spin on an old classic. Instead of  “time out” we adopted a “thinking chair”. It was amazing. I have since passed this trick on to many friends, with tons of positive feedback. My little guy is extremely literal. The thing about this concept is time outs are meant for thinking, reflecting, learning, and growing. However if that is not clearly outlined most kids just sit there wait for the allotted time to pass, and go back to whatever they were doing. Usually their foul mood has passed, but did they learn from that experience, mmm maybe.

When I sent little man to the” thinking chair ” (we had a designated spot everywhere we went) he knew he had to think while he was there. I, of course, did the classic rule of making him wait in correlation with his current age (ie 4 minutes for a 4 year old). Very early on I started asking him questions before he could get up. As he got older the questions and answers became more in depth. It was very important to me that he understood:

What actions led to the thinking chair

How those actions affected those around him

How he would feel if the situation were reversed

How he could have handled the situation in the future

How to right his wrong and apologize

This was a great exercise. He quickly learned what was expected when he was sent to think. There were even times when he sent himself there, and even now that he is older he will say he needs some time when he gets in a mood. That is so important for people to recognize when they just need to step back and gather their thoughts. The one thing I hear across the board from all of his teachers is how well mannered and thoughtful of others he is. He learned early on to think about how his actions and words can affect other people.

Anyone who has met me knows, I LOVE communication! This exercise with little man really developed our dialog in tough situations. To this day he is a great communicator and problem solver, and I thank that little Mator Chair where all of his thinking began! I know this may seem obvious to some people, but I was a YOUNG mom and this helped me a lot.

God Bless

Cassie

How to Care For A Sick Kid

 The influenza jerk hit our house hard this year. So far my poor husband and kiddo ended up with it, I may have squeaked by! The symptoms they had were: high-grade fever, cough, wheezing, sore throat, aches, and head aches. My husband ended up staying home with him one day for his first sick child experience. My hubby, thank god,  asked me what he could give him. DUH Cassie! Between the little guy being nearly nine and me being a nurse the thought never occurred to me, that not everyone knows what to do with a sick kiddo. Bam this post was born.

 Since my little guy was very small, we have had our sick day ritual down. He always gets to sleep in the living room with me or in my bed. We have a special sick cup he uses, and we rent movies. Pretty typical sick day mommy stuff. I baby the crap out of him when he is sick. Whenever there are multiple caretakers involved with my son or any other child I have made a Medication administration record. I know I cant help it, its the nurse in me. It really is helpful. At the top of the page I list the medications that can be given name, indication (what you use it for) dose (specific for this child), and how frequently it can be given. Then below  I put a graph where you can put time, medication, temp, other symptoms, and when this medication is due next. It really makes life easy when you have to give meds around the clock to keep a temp under control. Plus when you bring them to the doctor you don’t forget symptoms, I hate when that happens!

How we survived Influenza:

Pushed fluids

Ibuprofen every 6 hours

Acetaminophen every 4

(don’t be afraid to use generic, it really is the exact same thing for cheaper)

Be Koool gel sheets (these things are great)

God Bless!

Cassie

Best Parenting Advice

Any parent knows from the second you conceive and spread the word every one has advice. After awhile you learn to smile and shrug most of it off. Afterall nine times out of ten they have good intentions. Here are just a few of the things I heard:

You need to breastfeed

You should NOT breastfeed (yep they contra-indicate each other all the time btw)

never let them sleep with you

Babies always need their socks

drink a beer every day for morning sickness (yes someone gave me this advice, no it did not make the best advice list.)

****But one piece of advice I was  given regarding discipline was from my dad. He told me when my son was very young to :

“Remember the punishment must always fit the crime, because

regardless you HAVE to follow through. “

Now sticking to this has bit me in the behind a few times. Every parent that follows through on their word knows what I mean! That moment when you are doing 15 things at once and your child does something they shouldn’t, and you blurt no TV for a month. Yeah that becomes the longest month of your life, especially if it’s in the dead of winter! This then becomes your very own punishment for being so harsh, but stick to it.

My son is eight now and knows when I say it, I mean it. He does not ask me fifteen times to do something if I say NO the first. However, if I say “maybe” or “we’ll see” yep he continues to ask (can’t blame the kid for trying). I think he has developed this because I try very hard to always follow through, but I also try to give him a warning first. Usually it is something like; if you do not do your homework before asking to do fun things, then you lose TV, DS, 4 Wheeler, or favorite toy. It works majority of the time with a warning, but if not bam I have to follow through.

Example:

One day he got extra sassy with me. In his defense he was pooped, but he said some unkind words. His punishment: No electronics for a week, and he had to spend the week doing kind things for other people. I woke up the next morning to breakfast in bed (his wife will thank me some day), he then buttered me up for about three days, did some random acts of kindness, and spent an evening helping at grandmas house. He handled it very well, that was about three months ago, and he hasn’t really got lippy since. What a lucky mommy I am!

This was our back to school shopping day…Yep, I was the lady in the hoodie we all have our moments 😉 but boy we had fun!

Happy Parenting and God Bless! C