Today we had our second family meeting since our 5-Day Parenting Experiment. All in all, it went better than the week before. I think part of it has to do with the fact that it was a much shorter meeting. Last week went long because we were introducing the concepts in Duct Tape Parenting, and apparently not everything sunk in.
They say that people really only retain about 10% of what they hear the first go 'round. That was obvious when my eldest, Riley, asked, "Why are we even trying to change anything? What's the point?"
Last week, I thought that was made so incredibly clear, but I'm guessing that we sounded like Charlie Brown's parents "wah wah, wah wa wa wah" after yammering on for over ten minutes.
So, we had to reiterate that we want to make change for two reasons: 1) we want them to be self-sufficient by the time they head out the house at age eighteen, and 2) we want them to start to take up some of the slack, some of the burden off of our back (no, they won't jump at this chance just because they're good girls) so that we will have more time to dedicate to them, to teach them to drive, take them to the store, help with homework, pick up friends, etc...
Last week, the girls copped out a bit and said they wanted to work on us reminding them to do dishes and pick up their items. In other words, they wanted nothing to change. This week, Grace, my twelve year old, said she'd like to prove to me that she can grocery shop. So, she'll come with me once a month on my weekly shopping trip and will take the reigns.
While her sister was making this choice, Riley's attention span was running short. "You choose something for me," she told me.
"Oh no, no, no," I responded. "You need to choose what you want to get under your wing. If I choose it, it's really not yours." So, she decided that she would focus this week on putting away her laundry.
It wasn't ideal, but we think this meeting went better, and that they have a better understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing it. The more we meet weekly and discuss this, we think it will all make more sense to them and will become more of who they are, and who they will become.
image courtesy of ©MorgueFile.com/pippalou
They say that people really only retain about 10% of what they hear the first go 'round. That was obvious when my eldest, Riley, asked, "Why are we even trying to change anything? What's the point?"
Last week, I thought that was made so incredibly clear, but I'm guessing that we sounded like Charlie Brown's parents "wah wah, wah wa wa wah" after yammering on for over ten minutes.
So, we had to reiterate that we want to make change for two reasons: 1) we want them to be self-sufficient by the time they head out the house at age eighteen, and 2) we want them to start to take up some of the slack, some of the burden off of our back (no, they won't jump at this chance just because they're good girls) so that we will have more time to dedicate to them, to teach them to drive, take them to the store, help with homework, pick up friends, etc...
Last week, the girls copped out a bit and said they wanted to work on us reminding them to do dishes and pick up their items. In other words, they wanted nothing to change. This week, Grace, my twelve year old, said she'd like to prove to me that she can grocery shop. So, she'll come with me once a month on my weekly shopping trip and will take the reigns.
While her sister was making this choice, Riley's attention span was running short. "You choose something for me," she told me.
"Oh no, no, no," I responded. "You need to choose what you want to get under your wing. If I choose it, it's really not yours." So, she decided that she would focus this week on putting away her laundry.
It wasn't ideal, but we think this meeting went better, and that they have a better understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing it. The more we meet weekly and discuss this, we think it will all make more sense to them and will become more of who they are, and who they will become.
image courtesy of ©MorgueFile.com/pippalou
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