Friday, October 15, 2010

Peace, Dude.

I've gotten a number of emails from people from readers far and hear about a post I wrote a few months ago that mentioning a biblical way to help your children resolve their own differences. I've been responding individually, because I didn't know how to insert a link until today. I just spent several minutes of desperate searching, and of course, found it totally easy - as long as you think like Blogger. Anyway, let me know if the links don't work.

I had originally seen a link by a friend on Facebook to a post to Raising Olives, and I went over to investigate. Folks, I am barely making it with 5 kids, so I figure if a woman has 8 kids and she finds the time to blog and run her family too, she must be worth a few minutes of reading! In this case, I think it was a providential find, as I was really blessed by her post about Solving Sibling Squabbles. (If I'm doing overkill on the links, it's because I'm trying to repeat the process a few times so I don't forget.)

By way of update on the results of our using a Biblical approach to help our children solve their differences, I can tell you that it has really worked for our 6 and 7 year old children, and to some extent with our 4 year old. Conflicts between our 6 and 7 year old kids are being resolved regularly without parental oversight. Conflicts between either the 6 or 7 year old with a 4 year old sometimes need a little oversight. Conflicts that involve the 2 year old ALWAYS need oversight, because well, toddlers don't reason very well. I honestly think that is just a developmental issue, and that they'll get it as long as we teach them, and stick with it.

Peace, Dude. Let me know how it goes.

1 comment:

the Joneses said...

Those are some really helpful suggestions! We've been handling things along a similar line, but this gives us a more purposeful way of doing it.

And of course you're barely making it with five kids -- your oldest children are the age of her YOUNGER children! Just wait till Hannah and Daniel are older. Then you can be a source of inspiration to an overwhelmed mom of little ones!

(You already are. BTW.)

-- SJ