Children are such a blessing and so adorable to look at! But because of the fall of Adam, all of us are sinners, and that is so apparent in little strong willed children. Looks like it’s about time that I start disciplining Josiah in the house. He is beginning to show attitudes of mischief, rebellion and testing our patience! I had read in James Dobson’s book, Parenting Isn’t for Cowards that the first thing we need to break in a child, is his will. As a Christian, we are taught to submit to God’s will and not our own. All the more then we cannot have our children live according to his own will, especially when we have strong willed children.
How is my little monkey getting into mischief? Well, for one he has started this habit of hitting and scratching people, anyone from me to his aunt to his dad to his baby sitter. When we hold him close he will suddenly hit our face. He even scratched my nose till it bled one night. Whenever he does it, we tell him our favourite word for now, NO. Sometimes he stopped, but sometimes he continue doing it. We’ve told our baby sitter to use a ruler to gently hit his hand to tell him that what he was doing is wrong.
He also likes to sweep all the things on the table onto the floor and enjoys watching it tumble to the floor making loud sounds. At times, he struggles when we put him in the carseat, and absolutely always break free from the high chair. He uses crying to sway our hearts! Sigh…
We tried to abide by our own rules of no shouting at him and spanking only 18 months above, and only if all else fails. So at the moment, it’s repetitively telling him no no no. I really don’t want to become the mother who spare the rod and spoils her child, therefore, we seriously need lots of prayer and wisdom in this parenting journey.
Why not go find some book about how to teach a child, i guess when we said no to him, he isn’t getting it, there must be some useful techniques out there that can be used. cheers 🙂