Friday, August 5, 2011

Mommy's Rules: Tone of Voice

We must enforce so many rules to our children... I thought I would start to keep track of the rules I have created for myself as a mommy.

Mommy's Rule #1: Always Keep a Gentle Tone of Voice. No exceptions!



Collossians 3:8
Put aside anger... put on compassion and kindness.

Talk softly and use the Rod. How easy is it for us to "talk harshly and spare the rod"? Far too easy for me, because the later is much easier, and convenient. Far too often I think to my self "f I am harsh enough they will obey me" or "If I am harsh enough, they won't ever do that again." These are lies from the pit of my sinful selfish heart!!

This is my first rule because of all the parenting rules one could possibly think of, this is the hardest rule for me to follow. I find myself failing in my tone of voice everyday. It is so easy to get angry (AKA: frustrated, impatient, needing to "get through to her") Wether it is "Get your shoes on, I've already told you twice", "Don't push her", "Don't spill that", "You spilled that!!", "Don't touch your poop", "Be nice", "get off her head" etc, I need to always remember to speak how Christ would want me to speak, with patients and loving gentleness. In times when a child needs to be quickly admonished, it is better not to speak at all, and to remove the child (gently) into a room or bathroom to discipline, than to speak with harshness. Our children are going to naturally want to become harsh when they become angry because of the depraved state we are in. Helpless and hopeless without the Lord. When we are harsh we are making it that much easier for our children to do what comes natural with their anger. It will take a gentle example and a lot of hard discipline and training to guide their little hearts to the biblical response to anger. Giving into our own anger in our tone of voice will teach them how to do the same. Even if we are just saying one word ("No") there are a hundred different tones you can use to say it. Staying always gentle and loving with our tone as a mommy will teach and train your children to be gentle and humble with their anger.

I love parenting Biblically. I love the Bible. I love my kiddoes. I love Jesus and the Word of our Lord, who gives us everything we
need for life and godliness. Thank the Lord!! Praise Him!!

A Few of my Favorite Things!!

These are a few of my new favorite things this summer. Here is a wonderful glass sippy cup from Lifefactory. I love using this on a daily basis for Katelyn, and then taking our plastic ones when we are on the road. Glass holds up so much better and... who knows the benefit of daily glass vs daily plastic. I feel it is safe to leave water overnight in this sippy vs a plastic one because of all the talk of plastic leaching into the water.


This is my new favorite kitchen organizing method... glass jars. I love them. I bought widemouth glass jars and plastic caps to fit them from Amazon. I feel so much more organized in my cupboards, especially because some of our shelves are much higher than normal. I can use these for leftovers and in the freezer too!



On our patio we have a wonderful turtle sandbox. When it is hot enough, we fill it with water. However, it has been cool some weeks this summer, so I decided to fill it with beans. I didn't want the mess and hassle of sand. The first beans we have tried are El Dorado beans, bought cheap at a local Mexican supermarket. They have held up nicely in the summer heat, but they do break if an adult steps on them. I will be experimenting with different types of beans to find one that is more sturdy. My next try will be Pinto beans. When they are done playing, I simply sweep them into a dust pan and dump them back into the turtle. This has provided SO many hours of good "clean" fun for the girls!!