Looking Back: Teen Mum #4

 

Things that I am glad I did when the kids were younger

 

1. ROUTINE – helped with having a sense of control as well as training

2. FAMILY NIGHT – planned, intentional time together

• Themes etc
• Priority in week
• Kids look forward to it/can be involved in planning
• Also opportunity to use for training – eg self control/forgiveness
• Prayer nights/different nights of focus
• Helps with family identity

3. READING NIGHT


4. TEACHING MANNERS – hard hard work but you hope it eventually pays off!

• Mr/Mrs,
• Asking ‘may I’
• Interrupt rule
   
  The funnel – ‘begin as you mean to go’ – much easier to let out the funnel than start with it wide open and realise you have problems and need to rein things in.
   
   

1 thing I wish I did do or wish I didn’t do

 

Wish I didn’t do/could have done better – ongoing! – let my mood govern a situation – modelling my OWN self-control. Comes down to being humble, acknowledging sin, realising need God’s help in every single situation and that He is the one that gives me self-control.

 

Also having a community of like-minded friends who are on the same page really, really helps, especially when the choices you make for your family are unpopular with them!!

Looking Back: Teen Mum #3

Looking back: Teen mum #3

 

Thankful for:

1. A plan for each day. Simply having a pattern of what I wanted the day to look like gave me a starting point and a basic idea of what to do next. The day never followed the plan perfectly, but it was a great guide to have, especially on those (many) tiring days.

 

1. A big picture plan. I had an idea of what I wanted my little ones to be like when they were 18 year old young men and women. So when I was making decisions for the day, It is the daily decisions that shape character and direction so I could say 'yes' or 'no' on the basis of my long term goal.
    

Regret:

1. I am thankful that I focused a lot of my training on self-control. However, if I could go back in time I would focus more training on controlling emotions. Our emotions scream at us to be heard and obeyed, and listening to facts over feelings is a great basis for wise decision making in adulthood.

Looking back: Teen Mum #2

Positive #1

So thankful I chose to hang out with other like-minded mums. It encouraged me to keep going and to know that I wasn't alone in my parenting journey.

Positive #2

So grateful that I was able to stay at home when my two girls were tiny and then to only work part time when they were at school.

I loved spending time with them, just playing and doing craft and being present for all their milestones. I have a record of the little things they used to do and say and that is a lovely memory now.

Wish

I do wish I had been more firm with my bossy child when she was young. I paid for it later as we had to deal with bigger issues in her pre-teen years.

I enjoy my two beautiful teen girls now and have a lovely relationship with each of them.