slow down

I've been trying to listen to more messages during the day, from Faithwalkers, from the Rock, whatever, just to keep my head in the Bible and encouraged during the day. One set of messages is from a Motherhood conference that Kathleen Nelson has done a few times. She mentions one thing in particular more than once, and it's stuck in my head, and made a big difference in how situations get handled around our house. I have been meaning to post about this for awhile, so if I'm not exact in my recollection of the messages, I do apologize. She mentions that if her kids are having trouble or if she's getting frustrated at them, that is her cue to "slow the machine down" and work with her kids on whatever the issue is.

This is priceless advice when dealing with a 22 month old little girl. There are plenty of things that she knows how to do, but there have been times when I can overestimate her ability to comprehend what I'm asking or even her ability just to accomplish a task. Then there's her 22 month old attention span, which isn't impressive in the least. There's also plenty of times when I'm busy trying to do something myself and I need to slow down to make sure that I'm paying attention to what's going on in general.

A lot of times, just by either going to her or calling her to my side, getting down to her level and making sure she looks in my eyes, and talking to her slowly in words I know she knows, I've seen a big difference in how she complies. For bigger tasks I usually have to continue slowly and patiently to remind and prompt her to be able to complete what I've asked (putting away toys or books usually take more time than I'd like, it's very tempting to just finish the job for her). It's nonetheless encouraging to see the change. It's especially helpful in public when training/discipline isn't an option. Just slowing things down usually results in obedience in those situations, even if it has to be repeated often at times.