I have been praying my heart out about to handle my sometimes volatile children. Especially Olivia who has a heart of gold, but sometimes this little mean streak I just don't know what to do about. And the fighting. The constant fighting. I was just thinking the other day, "I swear 24 hours with these kids and President Monson (LDS Prophet) himself would be asking for a drink!" But being the good Mormon Mommy that I am, I turned to prayer and scripture study instead of drinking myself into oblivion.
And for a while I wasn't really feeling anything different. I wasn't finding any answers in my scriptures. And then I read this,
14 And
ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither
will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and
quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin,
or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he
being an enemy to all righteousness.
15 But
ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will
teach them to love one another, and to serve one another. (Mosiah 4:14-15)
Well I am doing pretty good at not letting them go hungry or naked. But that quarreling and fighting caught my attention. The part about serving the devil is a bit more extreme than our current situation (thank heavens), but the next verse just really pierced my soul.
Teach them love and serve one another.
So this has become my mantra. And our family motto, "Love One Another."
We made posters together and talked a lot about serving each other. They are still fighting, but I can tell they are trying. I've heard Olivia several times stop herself from flipping out and instead asking her sister nicely.
So we are like 2 days into this... but I hope it lasts. At least long enough for me to finish unpacking!
Awesome! Good for you! It is hard but so worth it! My kids have been dealing with this a lot lately, and it drives me nuts! I'm stealing youridea for our next fhe. The kids need a refresher course! Love you Lauren! Keep up the good work! I love reading your posts!
ReplyDeleteIt is a constant battle, that effort to stop the bickering. Remember, they are responding to emotions. Sometimes helping them to recognize how they are feeling and how the other child is feeling helps. When ours got a little older, we decreed that fighting wasn't allowed in the house. If they wanted to fight they had to go outside. That way, it didn't get them Mom's attention, plus it was hot enough outside that fighting lost it's appeal quickly. Might be risky with smaller ones though. Good luck!
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