{"id":243,"date":"2003-03-12T14:06:34","date_gmt":"2003-03-12T19:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/?p=243"},"modified":"2003-03-12T14:06:34","modified_gmt":"2003-03-12T19:06:34","slug":"my-spirited-chi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2003\/03\/my-spirited-chi\/","title":{"rendered":"My Spirited Child My Fastolph"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>My Spirited Child<\/b><br \/>\nMy Fastolph is what <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/tg\/detail\/-\/0060923288\/qid=1047494580\/sr=8-1\/ref=sr_8_1\/002-6486536-3151230?v=glance&#038;s=books&#038;n=507846\"><br \/>\nMary Sheedy Kurcinka would probably call a &#8220;Spirited Child&#8221;.<\/a> He is <a title=\"constantly climbing on furniture and running out into the street\">full of energy<\/a>, <a title=\"tries to light matches, sticks his fingers in outlets, is fascinated with knives,\">inquisitive<\/a>, <a title=\"into breaking windows\">physically strong<\/a>,  and <a title=\"into telling Mommy to shut up\">verbal <\/a>. I have been having quite a hard time with him. I realised as I mentioned before, that my parenting skills were sorely lacking.<br \/>\nA few years ago a friend gave me the book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nogreaterjoy.org\/ProdTTUAC.htm\"><i>To Train Up a Child<\/i><\/a>. The basic premise of the book is that if a child misbehaves, they should get &#8220;switched&#8221; for their wrongdoings. That power struggles should be sought out, and basically, the child&#8217;s will be broken (my analysis). While the Protestant-ness of the book did not appeal to me, the idea of not allowing a child to walk all over you did. I see so many snotty, spoiled children with no respect for their parents, themselves or anyone, raising children to turn out that way scared me.<br \/>\nWhen Fastolph&#8217;s personality started to blossom, I found that he was getting switched at every turn with no end in sight to his bad behaviour. I abandoned the method, but felt lost as to what to do now.<br \/>\nI recently (finally) got a copy of <i>Parenting With Grace<\/i> by Greg and Lisa Popcak. I have only been through the first 100 pages, but the difference in my Fastolph is amazing. You would think it was so simple. I cannot go into great detail yet because I want to finish the book, but if I can sum up what I have done differently, I would start with the Golden Rule. I started to attempt to treat him just as I would want to be treated and forgot all about this &#8220;I am Mother, I am here; You are Child, You are there!&#8221; stuff. Basically it is like putting the same effort into building the<br \/>\n<i>relationship<\/i> with my children like I do with my marriage (communication, service, love, etc.).<br \/>\nFor example, if Fastolph asked me for something, and the answer was &#8220;no&#8221;, I would just say &#8220;no&#8221; and we would start with a temper tantrum. Now I make a point of explaining to him why I said &#8220;no&#8221; until I truly think he understands, and attempt to redirect him. &#8220;No, we cannot play that game now <i>because<\/i> I actually have no idea where it is. How about we colour a picture together instead?&#8221; Also, &#8220;but first you need to eat and get dressed. If you do not eat and get dressed, it is your choice to not play that game&#8230;&#8221;<br \/>\nOK, I have to read some more of the book, but the Popcaks are awesome in my opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Spirited Child My Fastolph is what Mary Sheedy Kurcinka would probably call a &#8220;Spirited Child&#8221;. He is full of energy, inquisitive, physically strong, and verbal . I have been having quite a hard time with him. I realised as I mentioned before, that my parenting skills were sorely lacking. A few years ago a&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2003\/03\/my-spirited-chi\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">My Spirited Child My Fastolph<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}