Archives for February 2011

What we’re doing these days:

• Reading Proverbs together (David and Bethel reading alternately!). Talking about some verses during this time.
• Having my children help me as I work on memorizing verses.
• Talking about holding on to sadness (bitterness). Laurel told me the other day, “Mom, you already told me about that.”
• Probably talking too much. An actual quote: “Mom, can we just listen to the Bible verses and not talk about them?”
• Telling the older children that I’m not surprised or bothered that the younger ones do less work. But at the same time trying to increase responsibilities and privileges as well as keep things as fair as I can.
• Putting in storage extra toys and clothes that are making clean up time overwhelming.
• Thinking about making checklists for the kids.
• Thinking about actually sending thank you notes instead of writing them, putting them in envelopes, and losing them.
• Seeing improvements with children in obedience, whining, and loving each other. (but also failures)
• Trying to figure out if any of my children are actually saved. 🙂
• Trying to be perfect so none of my faults are passed on to my children.
• Trying to be gentle and kind with my children. (I will admit that my sudden urge to simplify was a little overwhelming. I had to back off, and we’re all okay now.)
• Praying for wisdom. Praying for wisdom for the mothers of children I know. If you’re reading this blog, and I know your name, I’ve probably prayed for you!

I’ve been thinking about when Anger becomes Bitterness, and whether it’s useful to define it for a child.

Since I’ve been talking with my four year old about anger and not getting her way, I’ve been prompted to look a little more closely into God’s Words and Ways. This is a project for the next few weeks, I think.

Today I brought it up. What I told her was, “You can be sad about not getting to do what you wanted to do [wear a Sunday dress for play], but when you hold on to your anger it’s called bitterness. Bitter people are always miserable.”

How do you help a four year old let go of her anger? I dunno. Put off, renew, put on, perhaps. I told her she needed to say “Oh, well. I guess I’ll go look for something else to wear.” She dutifully repeated my words. She really does understand that she’s unhappy when she’s angry, and she really does want to figure out how to get rid of the anger. Then she dragged her feet upstairs. Changing one’s mind is hard. I know it doesn’t happen immediately when I have to do it.

When she was upstairs, I heard a little voice saying again “Oh well. I guess I’ll go look for something else to wear.” It warmed the cockles of my heart.

• Stand up straight.
• Don’t stick your tongue out.
• Don’t cross your eyes.
• Look at Mommy.
• Keep looking at Mommy.
• Don’t roll your head around.

Good.