un-frazzle stage!

THE FOLLOWING BLOG CONTAINS DISCUSSIONS ON DISCIPLINE AND HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY EDITED TO CONTAIN FEW DETAILS ABOUT MY METHODS. I BELIEVE THAT PARENTS HAVE A RIGHT AND A DUTY TO DISCIPLINE THEIR CHILDREN--NEVER TO ABUSE--BUT TO DISCIPLINE AND TEACH THEM METHODS OF CONTROLLING THEIR OWN WILL AND IMPULSES. IT IS CLEAR AND OBVIOUS FROM HISTORY THAT A SOCIETY IN WHICH PARENTS HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER THEIR CHILDREN IS A SOCIETY WHICH QUICKLY LOSES ITS YOUTH TO DANGEROUS BEHAVIORS. THEN THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO STEP IN AND INSTITUTE PROGRAMS SUCH AS (toxic and ineffective) HPV VACCINES TO "PROTECT" KIDS FROM SOMETHING WHICH THEIR PARENTS DID NOT TEACH THEM TO AVOID... SOMEONE RECENTLY TIPPED OFF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES TO INVADE THE HOME OF A FRIEND OF MINE, BASED ON BLOGS SHE HAD POSTED ABUT HER FAMILY, INCL. SPECIFIC TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE MEASURES. THIS IS A SHOCKING BREACH OF CONSTITUTIONALLY-GIVEN (AND GOD-GIVEN) FREEDOM OF THE PARENT TO RAISE UP THEIR OWN OFFSPRING, AND A SIGN OF THE GOVERNMENT'S GROWING DESIGNS TO CONTROL EVERYTHING WE DO. ENOUGH ON THAT. I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN WHO PLANS TO RAISE A SAFE, ADVENTUROUS, FUN, LOVING AND DISCIPLINED FAMILY, AND EXACT METHODS OF DISCIPLINE CAN THEREFORE NOT BE REVEALED IN PUBLIC FORUMS UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT DECIDES TO BACK OFF ON ITS INCREASINGLY FASCIST APPROACH AND LET US LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE ONCE AGAIN.


ah my little one! her canines are coming in like painful little whiteheads, and she is hurting, i can tell! what did she do today that i thought 'i MUST write this down'?...

well, she can do a little sign for "bees" nowadays. she puts her thumb and forefinger together (tries) and goes 'bzzzzz bzzzzz,' or at least that's how i say it. with her it comes out like a "thhhh! thhhhh!" and she shakes her entire arm vigorously back and forth with her little pincer sign. also, she recently learned that cows say "moo," from a little farm animal book that mel's mom sent us before she was even born. but it's really funny when the cow page comes up because she's not perfect in her pronunciation of the "moo" quite yet, and basically makes a loud low grunty sound that starts with an n. but she makes good and sure that it is really loud. i love it. and i can also recognize her trying to say "cockadoodle doo!" but it is as of yet pretty irregular and garbled. but she knows that she is supposed to say SOMETHING complicated on that page!

today i taught her how to sign "diaper," because yesterday it seemed like she was holding her diaper to try to tell me to change it. the sign involves putting your fists near the front of each hip and rotating them as if you were undoing diaper tabs. i had shown her how to do it earlier, and then i said at some point, "sparrow, how do you say 'diaper'?" she knew. and she seriously kept on rotating those little wrists with a serious expression on her face for over 30 seconds. it made me laugh so hard.

i have begun to read a book called "to train up a child." the philosophy behind it is really amazing and smart. hear this:

"In the infant and young child, we do not deal with their "selfishness" as sin, but we are aware of where it is
headed. Drives, which are not in themselves evil, nonetheless form the occasion to all sin. Our training must
take into consideration the evil that a self-willed spirit will eventually bring.

We parents cannot impart righteousness to our children, but we can develop in them a firm commitment to
righteousness. We cannot write the law on their hearts, but we can write the law and gospel on their
consciences."

and it is really hard because you have to "train" your child consistently and this from an early age, and it involves self-discipline on your part, and expecting your child to obey and not giving in to them. wow, it was really hard for me when sparrow discovered scotch tape today and kept tearing looooooooong strips of tape off of it. it was kinda cute and i wanted her to be able to learn about stickiness, but a) we can't waste tape and b) i wanted to use it as an opportunity to train her to obey. before today, i would have simply taken it away from her and put it somewhere where she couldn't find it. but not today. armed with my newly acquired parental wisdom, i tried the new methods, and was surprised to see she took to it, and learned to give me the tape!

it was also a blessed relief, i tell you, to sit down to my dinner--with her on my lap--and realize that i didn't have to awkwardly eat all my food at arm's length while wrestling her to try to keep it out of her reach. i was the parent, and her will was trainable. i did not move my salad bowl OR my cup of tea away from the edge of the table. i was fully in awe. i felt so free! after dinner, i even felt free to do the dishes! lately she's just been hanging on my legs and whining so much whenever i try to do anything in the kitchen, that i don't wash up til she's asleep and feel like i have to hurry through all my essential kitchen tasks when she is awake. seriously, it was such a burden off to feel like i was a parent in control of my own household. i felt so orderly and right. but my goodness, i do love her little dickens face when she is staring up at me with her tiny set jaw...

one more hilarious quote by the author of my new favorite book... they like to tell anecdotes about certain kids/parents they've observed in situations. he tells the story of a particularly horrible (untrained) child, and then says,
"It was enough to make you believe the Devil started out as an infant. I am just thankful that one-year-olds don't
weigh two-hundred pounds, or a lot more mothers would be victims of homicide." hahahahahahahaaaaa. ha. i laughed pretty hard at that one.