Two Helpful Pieces of Advice

One more comment about the video Ryan posted...if you think a 1 1/2 year-old naked dancing is too revealing, I have one better. While we were at the beach, where mostly Europeans were vacationing, a girl that couldn't have been younger than 9 years old ran around the beach completely naked. She had a faint swimsuit line, but she didn't seem fazed by her own nudity at all....I guess it was just Bethany and me that were a little concerned.

I wanted to share two great pieces of advice I have received in relation to parenting. Well, one is advice and the other is a pointer, but they have both been tremendously effective in making things flow smoother with my ever stronger-willed daughter.

The first is to have regular quiet-time for Selah. Of course, it would be great if she were sitting in her bed reading her Bible and praying for 30 minutes most mornings, but, as smart as she is, she's not quite there yet. I started putting her in the bed with a few special, quiet-time only toys and some books and told her she had to play alone for 10 minutes. She didn't really like it the first week and called for me almost the entire time or whined. As time has passed we've worked up to at least 30 minutes in the mornings on the days we're home. She gets excited about her quiet-time now and always takes a small snack and cup of water with her. She also seems to do a little better job of playing by herself throughout the day on the days we have quiet-time. It really is helping her learn how to play alone. I love it because I get a few minutes to rest or have my own quiet-time.

The second "trick" or pointer we recently learned from the Leathermans. When their son refuses to eat something they know he likes or hasn't ever tried, they offer to do the "[insert food name] dance" if he takes a bite. This is simply amazing. The dance involves a little jive, while sitting in the chair, with our fingers shaking about and we use a made up tune to say "Do the [insert food name] dance." repeated about 4 times. Since we learned the dance, Selah eats those last bites on the plate when she just wants to go play; she tries more new foods and rejects food less often. I don't mind trading a 3 second dance for dinner-time harmony. I'll try to get a video demonstration up for you to view.