LDTR4Children – Obedience

We are currently working on attention. Our “celebration” will be as natural as possible (no toy buying). For us, a special date with mommy or daddy to that child’s favorite outing would be most pleasing to my daughters. For example, one of my daughter’s favorite places to go is a local nature center. So, I would take her there and spend as long as she would like and maybe go to a resturant for lunch (instead of packing the old PB&J). I would talk all about how proud of her I am the whole time and really just praise her for accomplishing her goals. Maybe the gift of a new book during lunch would be nice. 

LDTRFC is an awesome resource, but it does require some critical thinking on the parent’s part because each family has their own dynamics. Sometimes, I don’t know the all of the answers to the parent section before getting started on a habit, but I have found that as you get started, some of those questions get answered as you go through daily life. It’s okay to not have it all planned out. (It probably wouldn’t play out the way we planned it anyway. LOL!) After about a month, you will look back and see that you really are gaining ground and you come up with ideas as you go along. It takes time to form habits so don’t rush – they are meant to last a lifetime so they will take plenty of time to become foundational. 

Just take it at a nice slow pace and learn by trial and error. That is what we do. Some days are better than others, but it is usually directly related to how in-tune I am that day to the habit. Let’s just say, working on the habit of attention is positively affecting mommy and daughter. We parents have some serious work set before us, but LDTRFC makes it much simpler for us by giving us a starting point. I know this may not specifically answer your question, but I hope it helps you. 

I have also noticed that the stories where the characters struggle witht the same habit are the ones that impact my daughter the most. For example, on p. 144 of Book 1, King Albert didn’t pay attention and he burned his cakes in the oven. I put my daughter in charge of watching her toast, and of course she let it burn. We called her King Albert for the rest of the day. :)))

An easier option to finding more stories, is to point out the positive habit in a real living person in your life. For example, if you see a child being obedient at the park, point it out to your child as an example. For attention, point out a sibling who maybe finished her work and was able to play for a few minutes before the next lesson started. When reading aloud, make note of characters who fit the habit you are working on.