Fruit Inspection

A few Sundays back Jeremy was making plans to play golf for the afternoon. I told him I wanted to go too. Not because I wanted to embarass myself by knocking the ball into the woods a couple hundred times, but because I wanted a few hours to myself, sitting in the golf cart, reading. He agreed. We got a sitter. And I finally finished Creative Correction by Lisa Welchel.

I wrote about this book when I first got it. Only having read the first 3 or 4 chapters, I told how much I loved it. Well, it didn’t disappoint all the way through to the end. And in the weeks that have passed since then, I have taken what I learned and tried a few new techniques. Some are direct suggestions and others are things I thought of myself after contemplating what I had read. But here is what I’ve implemented so far:

1. The Correction Jars. My friend Amy, who suggested the book to me, had told me about how she used these jars as well. They are a really great idea. One is for good choices, filled with things like “you get a special treat” and “you are allowed an extra book tonight”. The other jar is for bad choices and has cards that say things like “you must take a 10 minute time out” or “you are going to bed 15 minutes early”. I don’t use the jars every time discipline is needed, but some days it’s nice not to have to decide what the punishment will be. I simply say, “Pull from the bad choice jar”, and we do whatever it says. And she absolutely loves pulling from the good choice jar. That is saved for times when I catch her going out of her way to be sweet to her brother or for helping without being asked.

Oh, and the best part about the good choice jar is the mercy card. One slip of paper has a Bible verse on it that talks about God’s mercy. If she pulls that card, she can save it to use for a time when she’s made a bad choice. Instead of pulling from the bad choice jar, she can give me her mercy card and we will talk about God’s mercy and forgiveness. Then we will say a prayer about her bad choice and it’s forgiven and forgotten.

2. The penalty box. This idea came from somewhere else and I can’t remember where. I did a post on it sometime this year when I wrote about chores, but I don’t know where it is. Anyways, this has worked wonderfully! No more begging and pleading (from me!) when it comes to picking up toys. For example: Savannah’s room is her room and I try not to nag her too much to keep it clean. But once a week I do have to vaccum in there, so she must tidy it up. The rule is simple…”I will be up there to vaccum your room in one hour. Whatever is not picked up and put away will be put in the penalty box.” Anything left out gets put in a laundry basket and taken away for one week. I’ve only had to use it once.

3. Reading time. This is a good one for us, used during that time in the morning when the natives start getting restless. It’s not quite lunch time, I don’t want to turn on the TV, and I need to get some laundry folded or make some phone calls. So I get the timer and a basket of books (which I have been changing out for variety). The kids get comfy and for 10 minutes they must “read” (which right now equates to looking at the pictures quietly).

I can honestly say they look forward to their reading time. As they get older, especially Emery, I will increase the time and hopefully be able to get 30 minutes worth of reading out of them eventually. Gosh, that would be enough time for me to walk on the treadmill!!! (Dare to Dream!) I also feel like reading time is a step in the right direction if I go through with the whole homeschooling idea for Savannah next year.

4. The listening game. My kids love this game which teaches them to be good listeners. It’s simple: I just give them silly things to do. The book suggested doing this in a mall but so far I’ve only done it at home. We are working up to the grocery store. Basically, I will say “hop backwards” or “jump on one foot” or “walk with your hands in the air”. And I will make my voice loud and then soft, so they have to be listening carefully. We have a lot of fun with it and I hope it really improves their listening skills.

5. My timer. Last but not least is the timer. I have not used one before but it has become a wonderful tool in the past couple of weeks. For timeouts in the past, I just set the microwave timer. But now I have a regular kitchen timer and since it’s portable, it can go anywhere and be used for anything. “We are going in the house in 5 minutes”. “You have 10 minutes to brush your teeth and get your shoes on”. And here is the best example of how the timer has changed things around here: “Mommy will be off the computer in 15 minutes”.

That’s right…Mommy needs a little creative correction every now and then too!