Friday, July 04, 2008

Self Control

My P woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He is normally so sweet and easy, but today he just couldn't find his groove. After listening to too much whining and fit throwing this morning I finally said, "Buddy, this has got to stop. Do you think we should pray God will help you with self control and kindness?"

(This self control approach is from a great article someone gave me yesterday at the pool from Proverbs 31 Ministry's magazine, by the way. I loved the idea of making it about self control rather than about the whining itself. This also keeps Mommies accountable for using self control when handling such an annoying problem!)

P agreed and started praying aloud, "De-ya God. Pweese give me self contwol and kindness to my family. In Jesus Name we pway, A-men."

I was feeling a little moment of Mommy glory until he started the same emotional behavior again. "P, didn't we just pray about this?"

"Yeah, but it didn't WORK, Mommy!" he cried.

Two hours later, after a big morning swimming with friends we had a little issue with parking lot safety. P & K were not listening to my commands to stick together and hold hands. After 2-3 attempts to get them to cooperate, I lost my cool.

"You two are going straight to Time Out when we get home. This is a busy parking lot. You are not being safe and you are not listening to Mommy!" I lectured.

P looked right up at me and said, "I think we all need to pway for self contwol again."

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to comment that I love your blog. Your posts are so real. Although I don't have triplets I do have a 3 & 4 year old and my days are often filled with similar challenges and striving to reflect Christ in my life. Lately I've really been struggling with keeping my cool when the kids go bonkers which is about 12 hours a day lately. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I have been enjoying your blog for a few years now also...
I really enjoy your children, I laugh and cry alot....
My boys are now in their teen years, I remember what it was like...
Have a great 4th with them...

Mozi Esme said...

Why do they learn so well??! At least you know he was listening!

Anonymous said...

He really did listen! Yeah for him - uh oh for you!

Thanks for the post - made me smile.

Kerin said...

I might even have to try this with my girls - you never know!!!

Leah said...

LOVE it!!

I think the sleeping through the night is a HUGE help. OK, you're going to be sick here, but my first two were sleeping through the night by 6 weeks. However, #3 decided he was not having any of that until I used a little tough love Baby Wise on him at 12 weeks (he was already 16 pounds ... he wasn't starving). But those 12 weeks, I behaved so badly. I was always grouchy and quick tempered. It is amazing what consistent sleep can do.
Bravo on the exercise. It does make such a difference as well. Oh, and I think you look fantastic!

JMBMOMMY said...

Oh this is so familiar! Sweet times with our babies-- :)

Cheri (aka "The Mom Lady") said...

Nothing like a healthy dose of children to get us to own up to our own foibles, eh? There is nothing quite so convicting as trying to teach our children the same said things we struggle with every day. But KUDOS for keeping the faith and continuing with it!

This is a precious example. May we ALL "pway for self contwol"! Jesus did say that only if we come to Him as one of these little children, we could not enter the kingdom of heaven!

Mark 10:13 "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein."