Great Discipline Ideas

My good friend e-mailed me this link today and I'm so inspired.  We have been having trouble with our older two lately with a lot of whining, complaining, and not going to bed well at all.  I can't wait to try several of these ideas.  I hope you can be encouraged as well.  There are some amazing all from http//imom.com. 

Disciplining our children takes dedication and effort. It also helps to mix in a little creativity when needed. The consequences below from parenting expert, Lisa Welchel, might seem a little strong, but let them inspire you to come up with your own, and pair them with the 7 Steps to Tried and True Discipline.
1. If time-outs don't work, try a "time-in." This can be accomplished by sending your child to a designated spot where he must complete a task that has a definite beginning and end. This could be putting together a small puzzle, stringing 50 beads on a piece of yarn, or tracing the alphabet. A time-in diverts his energies and encourages him to focus on something positive.
2. Timers set definite boundaries. For example, with a timer, you can say, "I'm setting the timer. I want your room cleaned (or your shoes on, or the dishes unloaded) in 15 minutes. If you haven't finished by then, your correction is…." This method not only spurs on easily distracted children, but it also leaves little room for arguing about a job that isn't finished and whether the correction is warranted.
3. Make a homemade "Correction" can and fill it with tickets or slips of paper with various consequences written on them. Instead of giving your child a time-out, send her to the can for a slip. A few ideas might include no TV or computer for a night, early bedtime, or an extra chore. Toss in a blank piece of paper, a "mercy" ticket. This gives you an opportunity to talk about how God gives us mercy even when we deserve punishment.
4. If you repeatedly open the door to your child's room only to catch him in an act of disobedience, take your child's bedroom door off the hinges. It sounds harder to do than it actually is. And it works wonders!
5. Adjust bedtimes according to your children's behavior that day. For each infraction, they must go to bed five minutes earlier, but if they've been good, they can earn the right to stay up an extra five minutes.
6. An especially tough but effective correction for teenagers who forget to wear their seat belts is to add an additional day past their sixteenth birthday before they can take their driver's test. Hey, it's important!
7. If you have dawdlers, try this: Whoever is last to the table at dinnertime becomes the server. But there's a catch. Even if you're first, your hands must be clean, of you'll end up serving the food, pouring the drinks, and fetching the condiments (after washing your hands, of course!).
8. If your children are constantly turning in sloppy schoolwork, get a few photocopied pages of printing or cursive exercises. (These can be found at any teachers supply store.) Then ask your haphazard child this: "What takes longer: a report done neatly in 15 minutes or one you've sped through in 10 that must be redone and warrants a page of handwriting practice?"
9. You've heard the reprimand "Hold your tongue!" Make your child do it-literally. Have her stick out her tongue and hold it between two fingers. This is an especially effective correction for public outbursts.
10. My friend, Becki, tried a variation on this idea in the car. If things got too raucous or there was too much fussing between siblings, she would cry, "Noses on knees!" Her children then had to immediately touch their noses to their knees until she determined that they had learned their lesson.
11. Next time your child "forgets" to put something away, like video games or sports equipment, put it away for him. When he asks where it is, tell him that he'll just have to look for it. Believe me; he will learn that it's a lot more trouble to find something that Mom has hidden than it is to put it away in the first place.
12. If you have younger children who are messy, try this: Put their toys in a "rainy day" box to bring out later. This has the added benefit of making an old toy seem new again. Or set the toy somewhere out of reach but within sight for a predetermined number of days. This increases the impact of the correction by keeping the forbidden toy fresh in their minds.
13. I heard from a mom who had tired of her three sons' ceaseless noises and sound effects—so she got creative. If her boys did not take their commotion outside, she would make them sit down and listen to the "Barney" theme song cassette for 10 minutes. For adolescent boys, it's torture!
14. If your little one gets too hyper, come up with a code word to remind him to stop the action without embarrassing him. Whenever Tucker started getting too rowdy in a group, I would yell, "Hey, Batman." He knew that he needed to calm down before I had to take more drastic measures.
15. Does your child slam the door when she's angry? You might tell her, "It's obvious that you don't know how to close a door properly. To learn, you will open and close this door, calmly and completely, 100 times."
16. If your child likes to stomp off to his room or stomp around in anger, send him outside to the driveway and tell him to stomp his feet for one minute. He'll be ready to quit after about 15 seconds, but make him stomp even harder.
17. The same goes for throwing fits. Tell your child to go to her room to continue her fit. She isn't allowed to come out and she has to keep crying for 10 minutes. Ten minutes is an awfully long time, and it's no fun if your parents tell you to cry.
18. Another way to handle temper tantrums is to simply say, "That is too disruptive for this house. You may continue your fit in the backyard. When you're finished, you are welcome to come back inside." When there isn't an audience, the thrill of throwing a temper tantrum is gone.
19. If a job is not done diligently, have your child practice doing it. She'll learn to be more thorough if she's made to sweep the floor three or four times because her first effort wasn't good enough.
20. When one of my children is acting disrespectful, disobedient, or defiant, I will instruct him or her to choose a chore from the Job Jar. The jobs include scrubbing the toilet, organizing the pots and pans, moving and vacuuming underneath the furniture, weeding the garden, matching up odd socks, defrosting the refrigerator, and cleaning the closet, garage, or under the bed. And those are just a few possibilities. You could add ironing, vacuuming the refrigerator coils, scrubbing the inside of small wastebaskets, polishing the silver, cleaning the window wells, brushing the animals, cleaning the fireplace, shaking the kitchen rugs, vacuuming the couch, alphabetizing the spices, and using wood cleaner on the dining room chairs. Not only does the Job Jar help to get my house clean, but it also keeps my little ones from complaining that they're bored. They know that with the Job Jar, Mom will always have an antidote for boredom.
21. I have a friend whose son's morning chore was to get the pooper-scooper and clean up the doggie gifts littering the backyard. The boy was not doing this job with much diligence, so his father came up with this creative solution: After the boy had completed the task, he would be required to run through the yard barefoot! From then on, their lawn was perfectly clean.
Taken from Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel.
 © 2010 iMOM. All Rights Reserved. Family First, All Pro Dad, iMOM, and Family Minute with Mark Merrill are registered trademarks.

Mommy & baby Garrett

I was trying to take a good picture of just Garrett and me but it just didn't work out. The try at least makes me laugh. 

Then Daddy tried and Garrett thought I was awful boring....  

Too funny!!!

Garrett's Baptism

Yesterday, we had Garrett Baptized at our church in Gibson City.  It was a private ceremony with close family and friends.  Garrett's Godparents are our amazing close friends, Jeff and Bridget Curl.  We are truly blessed to have meet them and become so close within the past year.  Here we are telling Father John our wishes to baptized Garrett.

 Pouring the holy water over Garrett's head....  The Father

 Son...

 And Holy Spirit....

Father John said prayers for both Kerry and I and Garrett just kept looking and smiling at me, it was so sweet.  

 Here is a great picture of us all, the Godparents, and Father John.  I love all our smiles.  I love our family.

 Here is a picture of the Grandparents with us...  those that could come anyways.  We had a few out sick. 

It was a truly a blessed day.  We are so thankful for the day and the ability to have Garrett baptized.

2012 Resolutions

This year I tried to make some New Year's Resolutions but not ones to break them.  I thought I would share:

1.  Worry less... this is the biggest one for me.  I'm a huge worrier by nature and by habit.  I worry from everything little to everything big and everything in between.  My biggest worries revolves around my boys.  I truly need to worry less so that I can do my second resolution...

2.  Enjoy life more....  I enjoy life but I think if I stop worrying I could enjoy it a lot more...  I just want to relax and enjoy the moments because you just never know when something is going to happen.  Embrace all the things little to big.

3.  Not take anything for grant and live today for today.  Live by the memo "Get up, to show up today"

4.  Love more... 

5.  Show up on time...  I am known to show up late for everything.  I mean everything except for church and that is usually because Kerry makes sure I'm on time.  I think my coworkers will attest to this on.

6.  Make as many memories as I can with the boys...  I'm realizing quickly how fast the boys are growing and they are only young once so I want to take advance of all these moments. 

7.  Live more...

8.  Live more....

9.  Help/Give more...

10.  Be a better wife and mother.... 

11.  PRAY MORE...

Garrett

Garrett is growing rather quickly to say the least.  He has started to smile which is so amazing.  Another melt your momma heart moment right there.  At a month, he weighed 10 lbs and 5 oz so he had gained 2 lbs since birth.  We go for his 2 month appointment next week.   

I was working so hard to get him to smile and it wasn't working with holding the camera and trying to get him to smile so this is the first of a thousand tries.   

Awww!!!!  THERE IT IS....  Don't you just love it...

Friday was the last day home from work and it was so very nice out so we bundled up and headed outside.  Here is Garrett's hat and snuggy.  He enjoyed the fresh air but we couldn't stay out that long.  He loved it so much he fell asleep as the older two were yelling and screaming of joy to be able to play outside.

Ellie Grace came over later on that night to cuddle with Garrett.  She walks around holding out her hands and saying baby, baby....  It is super cute.  She loves to hold him but when she is done with him she is done and you have to be ready. 

Kerry loves to tease me all of the time that he can get Garrett to smile more than I can and it is completely true.  Poor Murphy in the background, he is such a great protector and good dog.

This is a Saturday morning event, the boys love to hold him while they eat their breakfast.  It is so precious. 

Garrett started at daycare this Monday.  Our daycare provider told us that he was awesome.  Griffin was there to protect him if need be though.  Our daycare provider told us that Griffin got off the bus and explained to her that you cannot touch his soft spot because you could damage his brain.  It was super cute.  I guess he now understands a little why he can't touch his head.  I think they both have gotten the lecture a couple of times.  The two older boys still do amazing with him.  They want to love and talk to him all of the time.  You definitely know when he smiles or says "HI" because they jump and scream EVERY time it happens.  I absolutely love it. 

Christmas at Kerry's Dad's side

On New Year's Eve, we went to Papa Hurt Leg's house to celebrate a Christmas dinner.  We had another amazing meal of ham, potatoes, salad, rolls (which were simply awesome), and chocolate dessert.  I was really loving and enjoying all this food made for us.  Awesome!!!  The boys opened stocking at Papa's house.  They were so excited.  They got these little cuties, candy, and other nick nacks.  

Papa was helping Griffin.  Gavin loves to go to Papa's house to play XBox games with Dylan so he was hidden most of the time.   

 Oh he finally came down....    LOL!!

 I wanted another picture with my amazingly, handsome hubby with my new hair.  He was annoyed with me.  There is a shocker.  Oh well, I love these pictures.

We had a great time spending it with Papa Hurt Leg, Mama Sharon, and the rest of the gang. 

Kerry's Mom's side Christmas

We had Kerry's mom's side Christmas last Friday night.  We had delicious homemade pizza and lemon cake for dessert.  I'm not sure what Kerry is laughing about below but it is probably something with Anthony and the boys. 
 Lacy helping Isabella open her gifts.  She is now five months old.  Man time goes quickly.

 Matt Matt taking his turning on loving on the baby. 

I'm not sure what Matt Matt is advicing Garrett on but I'm sure it is good advice.  It could be advice how to handle his older brothers but Garrett sure is intent on listening.    

 All of the "older" kids got the same thing for Christmas so we had them have a race to see who could open their present first.  Of course Matt Matt and Kerry had to get in on the fun. 

 Griffin loved his bing bag.  Gavin does too but he was too busy playing that he won't sit still for a picture. 

 Mama Dolphin and baby Garrett...

 Yes Kerry fits on the bing bag and likes them too.  I think they are extremely comfortable so I might have to borrow them often.  Mama got them for the boys so they could play their Wii and have our movie nights in them.  They are really durable and that is what the boys need.

I wanted a good picture of just Kerry and I but of course Kerry was being a funny....  He loves pictures.  He knows how to always make me laugh... 

Yep here is a good one....

Isabella hanging out.  She is always happy....  I love these pictures of her.  She really liked Kerry. 

Here is a comparison of them both.  Many of fun years ahead for them both...  I'm sure Garrett won't pick on her at all ever.  Right!!!!  It is awesome having them the same age.  I can't wait to watch them chase and play with one another.   

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a lot of fun.  Griffin was thrilled to get up to see if Santa came.  Both older boys really got into it this year and the spirit of Christmas was really there.  On the Christmas tree, there were two dirt heads for their room and some presents under the tree. 

 Garrett just hung out on his boppy pillow while the boys opened presents.

 Gavin and Griffin both got football helmets and jerseys.  They were so excited.  They put on the complete outfit; it has pads as well.  This was the only thing Griffin asked for from Santa so he was excited he pulled through for him. 

 They also got a drag race thing.  They really haven't gotten into that a whole bunch yet but I'm sure they will. 

 Here they are in their uniforms.  It is really cute because when they play they sing the National Anthem first and then run out of the locker room before playing.  I can't wait to get it on video if I can catch them.  They can be pretty secretive. 

 After opening gifts, we headed out to Papa 4 wheelers to open presents.  This year we had extra blessings join us, Papa Old Tractor, Evan, Patrick, Rachel, and Garrett.

 Isn't Evan adorable?  He wasn't really into opening presents but more of playing with things that made music.  Super fun.

 Griffin opening his presents.

 Daddy helped Gavin with his.

 Evan just watched sometimes because I'm sure it was a little overwhelming to him. 

 A try at a picture of all the GRANDSONS. 

 This was another try.  Evan really didn't want a part in taking a picture.  He was too busy or just wanting to touch the baby.  Do you notice the Christmas socks on the older boys?  That is one of things Gavin asked Santa for.... 

 Our family picture.  By this time the boys, including Kerry, were not interested in taking pictures either.

 It was a busy morning and afternoon so some of us took a nap.  This picture is so precious.  I would say they were both extremely comfortable.

After a short nap or rest at home, we were off again for a dinner on Kerry's mom's side and then onto my mom's side for visiting.  It was a very busy day so we were thankful for the next day off of work.  We are extremely blessed this year.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was far different this year than last year.  It was difficult in more ways than one.  Every Christmas Eve since I have been born we have been with the Bittner side at Grandma Ruth's house.  She would serve a meal and then we would go to a very touching church service.  After I met Kerry, I would go to my church then Kerry would go to his side and I would go to my side.  When the Bittners went to church, I would go to the Tredennicks and then back to Grandma Ruth's for Bingo.  We would win simply prizes but now these are the little things that I miss along with all her baking.  We would always laugh about winning toliet paper or kleenex but we had fun.  Obviously that wouldn't be the case this year.  I thought about her all day but I knew she would want us all to go to church and enjoy our families so that is what we did.  In the morning, Gavin had the stomach flu so that was added fun to the day.  He was very sick in the morning but after an extremely long nap, he was fine by 2:00 pm and ready to go to church.  After church we headed to the Tredennick's Christmas for a great meal and to open presents.  The boys love to get together with Kim and Corey McWhorter's boys and play.  Aunt Lori got to love on Garrett.  That little one was passed around so much but he didn't mind at all.  He was great.  I loved Garrett's Christmas outfit although I'm pretty sure it wasn't that comfortable.      

 Aunt Lori bought Griffin a "I Spy" game so they were playing that.  It didn't last long though. 

 Papa Hurt Leg and Garrett...

 Matt Matt's baby was taking a peak at the newest Tredennick.... 

We really had a great Christmas Eve with the Tredennicks although different still all the same we were will family and friends-that is all that matters.