L&L

Focus points, from "Love and Logic" this week:

1) "Responsible behavior has a direct correlation to the number of decisions children are forced to make.  The more they make, the more responsible they become"

2) "When we intrude into our children's problems with either a rescue mission, OR with anger, we make their problems our problems.  And children who know their problems are the concern of their parents, don't worry about them.

3) "Kids who deal directly with their own problems, are moved to solve them.  They know if they don't, nobody will.  Not their parents, not their teachers-nobody.  And on a subconscious level, they feel a lot better about themselves when they handle their own problems.

4) "Remember: Everything we fix for our kids, our kid will be unable to fix for themselves".

I LOVED and HATED all four of these.  Loved, because I know they are SO true, and they are all SUCH good reminders for me.  Hated, because they're hard for me sometimes.  Granted, they're not THAT hard yet, because the "problems" a two year old faces just really aren't all that big.  In fact, it's a bit hard to even start implementing some of these things yet, at a toddler level.  However, I'm at least trying to do so, whenever the opportunities present themselves. I'm also trying to get into the mindset of operating this way, so that the older he gets, and the bigger and more complicated his problems become, the more skilled I'll be at being able to step back, and let him solve issues for himself, AND deal with the natural consequences that come from NOT solving them.