Ladder Golf, String Art, and Driver's Ed

We made our own ladder golf game last Saturday evening.

In the past week we have tried string art, it brought back memories of 6th grade. I still wonder where our teachers got the instructions for the stringing. I haven't been able to find the instructions how to make certain designs. Because of that some of my artists were not overly happy with their final product. It was a fine afternoon of hammering nails though.

One great thing about summer is that are rarely left-overs cluttering up the fridge.

Oh and driver's ed. We have twelve hours of driver's ed scheduled at a local rehab hospital.

It hasn't happened quickly and I'm surprised how well that has been handled.

So how did "Listen and Obey" and "Ask with Respect" work? Well I think the first day after I posted I met head on with one stubborn child. I had asked for a verbal response to a request. I almost thought that I was the stubborn one and maybe should lighten up.  Then I got to thinking of all the times there is confusion of whether or not a child actually heard a request. So I decided to stick at it.  It took about an 90 minutes. What was I doing during that time? I hung up laundry, helped replant sunflowers that had died, dodged some poorly aimed missiles  and basically stuck with the child until FINALLY, we were both on the same page. There were tears on both sides. Since that day that particular child has done very well. The youngest one is still work in progress.  :)

I read some advice that  I think I will probably get a chance to use one day and thought maybe someone else  might like to try it too.

When your child decides- at Wal-mart or some other public place—to suddenly NOT cooperate. You know, the sagging to the ground and screaming, won’t get into his car seat because you are asking him to leave a fun place or you didn’t buy the toy he saw in the store.

This lady said she watches for the pause in the screaming, there usually is one and you insert a comment or question that engages the frontal cortex (the thinking/reasoning part) of the brain. Say something like, “ I wonder, do you think cows can be orange?” or look at his shoes and say, “do you like wearing green shoes?” (pick a different color from what he is actually wearing). She said she has done this dozens of times with her five and eight-year-old foster sons in the nine months they have been with her and it has usually worked. She said she coached a camp counselor through the process over the phone when her son went “off-line” over something that had happened. The counselor was amazed how it worked.

You will need to choose a question that is developmentally appropriate, but give it a shot and let me know how it worked.  I used it on Shekinah yesterday when she “wasn’t tired” and was going for a nap. She was wailing beside the bunk beds, not moving. I glanced up and noticed Faith’s pink sock monkey hanging from the top bunk. I decided to try a question since we were getting nowhere fast. I asked, “where did you get that green monkey?”  She stopped crying and asked “where?” I pointed out the monkey and she declared , “That isn’t my monkey (she missed the green vs pink) that is Faith’s!”  I quickly asked if she has any friends hidden under her pillow pet and she started crawling into bed. She wanted her one animal that was downstairs. I quickly ran down, got it, and heard her start crying again. I thought maybe  this technique wasn’t working, but I hurried back up the stairs , and gave her “Waddles”. She sniffled a bit, gave me a kiss and settled for a nap!


Something I never thought I would hear said to a two-year-old!  "You gotta eat something else before you may have any more broccoli or peas."