Project Parenthood - Part III

Here is Part III of the Project Parenthood series at EastLake... 

Just another recap of items 1-5 of what kids need from caring adults.  This weekend we covered a couple doozies...items 6 and 7: 

1. Strong belief there is a high value in being a parent
2. On-going affection
3. Use encouraging words
4. Don't forget about having serious fun
5. Consistent presence
6. Delicate discipline - Discipline is about guidance, not punishment (love and discipline go hand in hand). When disciplining your child, be cautious and delicate. Be wise and think through all situations. Be fair in your approach to disciplining and make sure that the consequence is connected to the offense and is clearly communicated. 
7. Activate responsibility - A sense of responsibility is developed within each child so assign age-appropriate chores and allow consequences by not always bailing your kids out all the time. Consequences will build self-esteem and will teach kids that they have power and control in their lives. 

This week's lesson really piqued my interest for some reason.  My little handout was plastered with a ton of notes!  One thing that David has been set on is ensuring that our kids do not ever feel/act like they're entitled to everything and also understand the value of working hard for what you want.  I can definitely rally behind that!  I'm curious to see which one of us will be the "disciplinarian" of the family.  The verdict changes daily depending on the topic.  For me, I think I'll struggle with refraining from bailing out my kid all the time but I guess we'll see!  There are so many ways to go about disciplining and activating responsibility within your child so perhaps that's why I was so interested in this topic.  You could mess up in so many ways with these two items!  I suppose as parents we'll just have to learn and adjust along the way... luckily, we have a little bit of time to go before we really have to focus on these!  ;) 

Here's the link to the talk if you want to listen for yourself: http://eastlakecc.com/services/