Sunday, November 23, 2008

Year of Miracles #31

(Their true natures revealed--photo by OneHM)

The miracle this week is taking place as I write: my children have gone almost a whole day without whining about each other or bickering with one another! And it has been wonderful!

What precipitated this miracle, you ask? Well, we have had several family talks lately about there being too much whining/bickering. When it started up again first thing this morning I told the kids there would be no dessert tonight for those kids who did not keep the Sabbath Day holy and whined and fought with each other.

Yep, bribery. I figure if Heavenly Father can reward us (aka, bless us) for good behavior, so can I!

Still (to be honest) I am surprised it has worked so well today. Home really can be a "heaven on earth" sometimes.

In other news, today was our ward primary program and it went very well. Kitty was nervous ahead of time because her class was to sing a song sans the rest of the primary. We practiced before church and the class ended up doing very well. Sweetie Peach needed a bit of help but sounded so cute. Patch was stellar as usual. It makes me sad to think this is his last primary program ever, though.

Scripture of the Day: 1 Nephi 5:10

2 comments:

  1. It's so hard to watch them get older (even if it means the whining and bickering might stop). Good news, though--I was very glad when someone informed me that it is not bribery unless you are using it to get someone to do something bad. If you are trying to get them to do something good, it's just like you said--reward! It is amazing how well this works, yet, when we consider how the human animal does nada without some kind of pay-off (even a negative payoff can be attractive if you are desperate enough for attention or hate yourself enough) it isn't so amazing after all. Teaching our kids that good things will happen if we do good things is essential. Then, teaching them that the real world doesn't always work that way is perhaps even more essential--but not nearly as fun.

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  2. Oh i love primary programs! they are my favorie!

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