Saturday, July 26, 2008

More on Potty Training

So how do you make toilet training a positive experience? First off I'm a "potty chair" mom. Toddlers love to have their own little potty. Why you may ask? First off, it is just their size. This seems a little less threatening then something that just flushes a part of yourself away. Secondly, I let the toddler dump their own potty after using it. Don't ask me why, but it is a
thrill to them. I think that it may be a control issue. Of course, they get to flush, over and over again. Oh, I almost forgot, I put the potty chair in the famly room the month before I begin potty training. This way, they get used to it before using it. We may read books with them while sitting on their little chair, or even watch TV on their own little potty chair seat. Yes, introducing the potty experience slowly and positively guarantees potty training success. On the other hand,forcing, threatening, screaming, yelling or hitting a toddler is guaranteed to result in failure. So mom, take a deep breath, block out some quality time, and let the potty training begin. Remember, effort plus prayer will bring forth positive results. Memorize the scripture, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

How have you made this a positive experience in your toddler's life? E-mail me moms. I want to know and so do other moms. Thanks for listening.

ASK ELLEN-- I'd love to hear from you!

Dear Moms,

Let's BRAINSTORM about "Toilet Training". Toilet training not only teaches your child a new skill, but also is used by God to train us mothers for the Kingdom of God. It is God's, way of instilling endless patience, abundance of grace, and not to mention, a sense of humor. To a toddler learning to potty train is like us big people learning a new language. The rules have changed. What was ok before and actually made sense (wetting diapers) is no longer acceptable. Mom, your toddler has no idea why wetting his pants is making you so frustrated; after all, he or she has done this since he arrived.

So what's a mother to do? Introduce this new skill slowly, explain it throughly, proceed with patience, and give rewards. When in doubt err towards love. This is a great time to put 1 Cor. 13 into practice.

Questions, Comments, Ideas?

ASK ELLEN. I'd love to hear from you.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Time-Together Tuesday - S-Week

1. Snowman--Cut a large, medium, and small circle out of white construction paper. Have the children paste them on their favorite colored paper to make a snowman. Give them crayons to make the snowman's hat and face.

2. Shapes--Divide a piece of construction paper into 4 parts. Use a crayon to draw a red circle in one part, a blue square in another, and a purple triangle, and a green rectangle in the remaining parts. Next, cut out the same shapes in the same colors using construction paper. Have your child match up the shapes and paste them in the correct spot.

3. Spring or Summer--Paint a picture of spring or summer. Talk about the seasons.

4. String art--Take a big spoonful of paint and place it in the middle of a piece of construction paper. Fold the paper in half. Open up the paper, and place a string inside, leaving one end out as you fold it back together. Pull the string out, and then open it up to see your string art!

5. Spider--Take a styrofoam cup and turn upside down. Draw a face, and use pipe cleaners to add 8 legs.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Morality Monday - S-Week

"Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:43-45)

Talk about being a servant this week. What can you do to serve your family? What can you do to serve your friends? The church? Come up with a special way to serve someone as a family this week. Maybe you could bring a meal to a family who is going through a hard time, or offer to help clean someone's house who is overwhelmed. If your children see you serving, they will also learn to serve, so be a good example!

Fun-Time Friday - R-Week

1. Red Light-Green Light--Learn to play a new game: One person is "it". He or she stands at one end of the room, while everyone else stands at the opposite end. The person who is "it" stand with his back to everyone else and says, "green light." The other players run and try to tag him before he turns around and says, "red light." On "red light," the other players must freeze. The first person to tag the person who "it" becomes the new red light-green light person!

2. Record player--Pull out your old record player and listen to some records!

3. What to eat or drink--Roast beef or pork, Rice (try it with chopsticks!), Raisins, Root beer Float

Talk-About-It Thursday - R-Week

As mentioned before, Try-It-Out Thursday will now be Talk-About-It Thursday. Each week, Ellen will either answer questions submitted by readers in the comments, or she will present a parenting topic, along with some advice. Then, readers can add their own input on the topic in the comments section. Since we didn't receive any questions for the week, we will begin this feature next Thursday!

Where-are-We-Going Wednesday - R-Week

1. Ride--Take a ride on a bus or train or bike or plane.

2. Restaurant--Eat at your favorite one!

3. Row Boat--Have dad take the family out on a row boat.

4. Ranch--Visit a ranch near your home. There are many different kinds: ostrich, buffalo, llama, cattle, and more!

Time-Together Tuesday - R-Week

1. Rabbit Ears--Cut the shape of two rabbit ears out of construction paper. Cut a strip measured to the size of your child's head and paste the ends together. Tape the rabbit ears to the strip and place on your child's head...Hop...hop...hop!

2. Rainbow--Take red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple construction paper or crayons and make a rainbow. Use cotton on either end for clouds. Attach by string to a hanger and you have a rainbow mobile for your child's room!

3. Red--Take red construction paper, and cut out shapes in different sizes. Paste the shapes on white construction paper. Make a picture; be creative!

4. Rain--Play in the rain, or if it's not raining, pretend!

5. Riding Toys--Take them outside and play on them or have a race!