As a young mother, I homeschooled my son - an only child - as well as six other preschoolers. When the other children grew into kindergarten age, they left and were replaced by new preschoolers; however, we continued to homeschool Wayne until the sixth grade.As teaching parents, one of the first lessons we learned was how much a child's behavior is influenced by the early training he receives at home. We found that most parents innocently waited too late to begin disciplining their precious ones - thinking that "until they can understand words," the process is premature.
Can I brag for a minute? Having had our 14-month old grandson in the house all week for his first stay-alone visit, we could tell within the first few hours how well he has already been trained by his parents, Lauren and Wayne. One quiet command, "Hands off, please," and Trey obeys, period. Each time he finishes eating, he makes sounds (not words) similar to the inflection of 'thank you.' When it's to go to sleep, he lies down without a fuss. Every time.
My housekeeper was truly amazed, saying, "I can't wait to tell my daughter about this. She's been hesitant to have children because the only ones she's ever been around are curtain climbers."
How spectacular will it be when we see a generation of children who are not obese, but are genuinely healthy because parents and educators cooperate to train young children to prefer wholesome foods over fast food, and who prefer to be active over sitting around watching television?!
We who were once couch potato converts are now evangelists for active lifestyles, ambassadors for healthy living. Who is watching you?
4 comments:
That was nice to read. One hears so many horror stories about today's parents & their uncontrollable children. I think it was a lot easier for my generation when TV was a novelty and not a major feature in ifestyles. Our children were reasonably safe and had active outdoor lives and we were heavily influenced by the 'proper' behaviour of our parents. Unfortunately it did not answer all situations or we would not be where we are now.
Enjoy your grandson. Blessings.
Your son and daughter-in-law are such a cute couple as is your beautiful grandson. I can imagine how pooped you must be from taking care of him!
Glad to hear from you again--you continually amaze me with your progress. How's the running going? I did 37 minutes today and the hip feels...I'll know tomorrow ;)
It was a beautiful Sunday and I did pretty well with my baking (most of it was eaten and I gave the majority away)My fellow brothers and sisters love the homemade stuff!
Craig and I constantly talk about how we want to raise our children. And I can tell you, it bears little resemblance to the mainstream! It's true that children follow their parents' example and we are now already working towards creating the environment in which we want our children to grow up and being the kind of people we want our children to emulate.
I agree. I started giving time outs before my baby was 2. Small discipline early prevents the need for big discipline later. Though I admit with baby #2 it's seemed less urgent to get great behavior because I find so much of his mischief to be hilarious and adorable.
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