Today was the Successful Mothering Convention. I went with Vicky again this year, and we had a good time. I brought Nora with me, and she was great. I never had to get up and leave any of the classes. She was great! I wore her in my Mei Tai for the first half, and then got the stroller when she wanted to sleep.

I just wanted to write a bit about what I learned to kind of “download”. I think the biggest thing that I took away from today was that I need to really do a better job of involving my kids. One of the speakers talked a lot about how kids develop feelings of value and self worth by doing things for themselves. When we do everything for our kids we are teaching them that they are not capeable of doing the things themselves, and therefor they must not be very valuable. That is NOT the lesson I want to teach my kids.

So many times it is just easier for me to do things. It seems like we are always in a hurry to get out the door. It is so much easier for me to just grab Ian’s coat and shoes and put them on him. I know that at this point, he is capeable of doing it, it just takes him so looong! One of the things I am really going to try to work on it to have them do more things for themselves. I think over the last few months I have gotten better at this, but I have a long way to go.

One of my favorite sessions was the one on Positive Discipline. This is really my ideal parenting method. I say ideal, because I don’t always do it. But this is what I strive for. I want to teach my kids to do things because they want to, and they are the right things to do. I don’t want them to do things because they get rewards or because I want them to. She talked about giving hugs when kids are having tantrums. I tried it with Ian tonight when I got home, and it really worked. It makes so much sense. When they are crying and upset, what could feel better than a hug from someone who loves them? I bought a couple of her books, and I am really going to try to incorporate more of her principles into my discipline.

My other favorite was on the Utah Mama’s Handbook. I learned about a bunch of fun things to do with the kids. Rebecca talked about planning out your schedule at the beginning of every month. I think I am going to try that. I will look at what is available that month, and then plan a weekly or bi-weekly activity. There are some symphony things and some plays that I really want to take the kids to.

It was a really valuable day! I think that I learned a lot, and it is great to just get those tips and ideas to incorporate into my parenting. I think it helps just to hear about the parenting methods and to just get back to doing the things that I really believe work, and try to get away from the things that I don’t think work, but that I do when I am frustrated…like time outs