The Irony in disciplining your Children....

is that it is actually a discipline for yourself as a parent. To be consistent, to do what you say you are going to do, to follow up with demands, to say no and not change your mind because it is convenient or easy, to not give into whining and complaining. Disciplining your children becomes harder the longer you wait the more you give in the more you let the lines of boundaries fade. Why would your children take you seriously when you give in every time they whine or complain enough...they won't. They are smart and they are learning how to work the system and know just the right buttons to push. This occurs every day for me and so often I cave in and I am inconsistent because it is so darn hard and so uncomfortable and the cold hard truth is I don't have enough discipline in my life and don't like it and when I am pushed for more than I want to give I squirm and it hurts and I choose me so often rather than the betterment of my children and their formation. A very small thing happened this morning that tempted me as many small things do everyday. Everyone was protesting against eggs. Things ranging from tantrums to complaints such as "they make me have a belly ache because I have allergies to eggs". You can see the range in age here. I know also that the longer they go without food the moodier they become. (like me!) I decided I would stick to it and no other options would be given because they all protested immediately after finding out we were having eggs for breakfast and right after the protest was can I have something else. The first thing out of my mouth was No. I told them no...My no must mean no because it is a boundary I want my children to understand. I want them to understand because I want them to listen in more serious situations and to respect what I say because I am their mom. I don't want to be their wishy washy mom who can't make up their mind and doesn't mean what I say. I want them to know when I say no I am not going to let them get the best of me. So we are here now at 8:10am and no one has had food except for Finnian (he eats everything)and it is going to get harder from this point on, but it will be a battle and my sensuality is not going to win today because my no means no and they must understand this. If they are hungry they will eat eggs today or they will go with out breakfast and have to wait a long two hours until 10am snack! Another little situation that tested me this morning in this area was Finnian begging for my eggs by screaming because he had eaten ten minutes before me and had plenty:) He had enough and I didn't need to share, but I wanted to get him to be quiet..right now, but I said no and for him to learn he cannot beg I had to stick with my no and decided I would listen to him cry for my eggs as I ate.