Peaceful house…hot cuppa…brekkie in the oven…

Life is good!

I even went to bed early last night and slept in today! What a slug, huh? Felt good, though.

We have had a string of days in the 40s (even close to 50) this last week so our snow is steadily disappearing. The snowbanks are still high, but nothing like they were. The kids have been rolling in the muck though. I can’t keep them inside…so out they go…and then they are dashing in every 30 minutes or so to wash something off or change out of something that is soaked. My laundry has skyrocketed this week.

I’ve been thinking a lot about positive parenting this week. Specifically, how can I turn something that would normally be a negative interaction or reaction and turn it around to something positive? Overall, I tend to be more of a positive person than a negative person, yet I am seeing some negative knee-jerk reactions beginning in my children. I want to teach them how to spin more things positively rather than negatively.

For example, on Thursday I asked David to escort Sarah to band on their bikes. His initial reaction was negative (she biked too slowly, etc.). Instead of getting irritated with his reaction, we talked about this being an opportunity to do something helpful, to do something caring for his younger sister…and he actually came around and responded well. Off they went to band and an hour later back they came and as I was watching out the window I saw David pacing himself so as not to be too far ahead of his sister. **heart swells here**

There’s a long way to go, though. Now I just have to figure out how to give a positive spin to Abby when Isaiah is yanking her hair. Hmmmmmmmm…not sure about that one.