Why would anyone want to go to church with 3 kids under 5. I understand what my wife is trying to do, but they nor us are getting any religion, all we are getting is pissed and the patrons are wondering if we are good parents. If I saw myself I guess I would say that I’m not a good parent. We have no control of our children nor can we figure out how to control them. We have seen families of 5 and 6 children and they are all sitting in there nicely. I know why now my father stopped taking us to church every week.
Last night we took them to the Ash Wednesday service and Sean was acting up again. I took him out and we talked and he was ok. We went back in and he was good for about 10 minutes. Then Nicholas wanted to sit on my lap as well, so I had both of them picking on each other rather then just sitting there nicely. Also, why is it that kids don’t know how to whisper? They are yelling at me at the top of their lungs.
Oh well, the joys of parenting.
Comments (2)
Not to sound rude or make you think you are not being a good parent, but I always thought the 'fear of Mom' was a good tactic! I understand there are some kids out there that are just uncontrollable, but they aren't all like that. You need to be consistent with them, Tom. You and your wife need to sit down and discuss what will and will not be tolerated and then discuss what the punishment will be and you BOTH need to stick to it. It is going to be hard on all of you for a while because it will be a change and a challenge, but in the long run, it will work. You also have to understand that I am 45 years old and have raised three kids. They turned out pretty darn good. But things ARE different nowadays.
Posted by Debbi | March 6, 2003 12:19 PM
Posted on March 6, 2003 12:19
I think Debbi has a point. I always made it a point of talking to my kid (of course I only had one) before we went anywhere of what the expectations were. I started this as soon as she was able to ask for things. If she met the criteria going in then sometimes she was rewarded, but not always, because good behavior was expected to be norm so a reward shouldn't always be given. If she didn't meet the expectation discussed then there would be punishment...i.e. leave the store, not finish dinner, get a timeout when home...etc....whatever seemed to fit. But it always seemed to help to have the discussion going in of what was expected. I also think follow-thru on your "threats" is so very important. If they think the probably won't get punished then what is to stop the behavior. Good luck. At least you are trying with church and so many just don't.
Posted by daisy | March 6, 2003 2:07 PM
Posted on March 6, 2003 14:07