Monday Musings 32

This is very appropriate now that we have added to our family. I find that with the inevitable exhaustion that comes with the new baby I have been having trouble engaging with my daughters in the way I want to, have done in the past and continue to do so in my brain after I have missed the mark in actuality! My tiredness means that I am less tolerant and patient with the inevitable bickering that siblings naturally engage in. I forget that each child's has their own age related abilities and needs to be accepted for where they are developmentally.

In order to parent lovingly with confidence, consistency, awareness, acceptance, patience and tolerance I need to remember:

1. Ignore, ignore, ignore those behaviors I dislike.

2. Focus, focus, focus on each child's strengths.

3. Be patient with sibling bickering. Let them sort it out themselves and teach them the skills to do this as needed.

4. Be aware of age related abilities and maintain realistic expectations individual to each child.

It does help to have these simple (but not necessarily easy) guidelines to help me stay on track whatever I'm feeling, not matter how tired I am. I just need to remember the final guideline:

5. Practice, practice, practice with lots of self-forgiveness!