Learning how to parent

We all know that parenting doesn’t come with a handbook and it’s tough to know what to do sometimes (well, most of the time). I feel like a lot of times I over-compensate with Amelia because I’m terrible at working on stopping poor behavior. Sure, there are typical kid things but we have to teach our kids how to function in society and how Amelia talks to me is really something I have to work on.

Well today I had my 6 week evaluation with LearningRx and I am so excited with some of the tips that Donesa gave me. First, can you believe it’s already been 6 weeks??!! And Amelia is doing so well, they are very happy with her progress. But I still have to work on her rhythm which is interesting for me. But more on to the tips. Donesa has really given me some great advice, including taking the “The 5 languages of Love” quiz for kids, it will help me learn how to reward her best. She also helped me come up with some great ideas for a reward system; while my treasure chest is great, kids get bored easily and it needs to be switched up sometimes. One idea she gave me, that I will be using, is the Chuck E. Cheese reward system. Now you know I’m not a fan of the place but Amelia is so I’m going to get a Chuck E. Cheese bank and some of their coins, when it gets filled to a certain point she will get to go or perhaps we’ll go once a month and whatever coins she has earned she will get to us. No coins? No trip!

Donesa suggested that I give some to them to give LearningRx and perhaps pre-school as well, when she doesn’t go in time out there then she gets to bring home a coin for her bank. I think I’m going to let LearningRx keep going on the current reward system because she’s pretty excited about earning things there but I’ll talk to her teacher more about it tonight.

I will also be doing a chart for what I expect from Amelia, no more than 3 things can be on the chart and they must be clearly defined. I have to learn to limit choices, it shows Amelia that I’m the authoritarian, she still gets her own choice but she knows that I’m in charge.

Once a reward system starts losing its effectiveness then I’ll change it to another one. I still have to take this all in and hope that I’m doing it right but I’ll get there. I do love that Amelia isn’t losing her spunk with this program, she can still be as fun as ever but is learning things that will make it easier for her in school.

Another great tip that Donesa gave me to help Amelia with her fine motor skills:

Get some small fish tank rocks (the tiny ones so that if she, or hopefully the cats, swallow one it goes straight through), some tweezers and some cups and let her sort the colors of the rocks. Right now she’s still learning how to hold her pencil so this should help greatly. I can’t wait to try this!

I have a lot of homework this week for myself but I see a great relationship with my daughter coming from it!