Above is a pic of my youngest daughter and me.
My Husband, My brother in Christ
3 More Seconds to Disobey
We do sign language.
Go to I Can't Hear You, Mom and Mom, You're Talking Too Loud to find out how we got started.
"Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you."-Deut.8:5
When we are in church I can "talk" to my children silently. I can tell them to sit down. To take Rachael to the nursery. To be quiet. Focus. Turn around. Stop. Obey Mommy now. And it can be done without being disruptive.
One time a lady was talking to me after church. One of the twins was being disruptive behind her. I signed with a rather stern look on my face, "Time-out"... he dropped to floor in the sit down, criss-cross-apple-sauce, hands in your lap position and was silent. People around looked at him and asked why he sat down like that. He said, "I'm in time-out."
They didn't hear me tell him he was in time-out, so they inquired further. (We were new to the church). And then someone asked, "How did you get him to obey?"
"Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord."--Col.3:20
***Because he knows the consequences of not obeying.
***He knows we will follow through. We do not make idle threats.
***And he knows that it is best to obey because the consequences increase to the next level of discipline.
***Oh yes... and we do not "count" to 3. That just gives them 3 more seconds to disobey.
"It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?"--Hebrews 12:7
Jon and I have witnessed what happens to a child whose parents do not discipline their children. According to Proverbs 13:24, if a father does not discipline his son, it shows that he does not love him. Deuteronomy 10:12 says, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." Our goal in discipline is to teach them to love God and follow God's way... to reverentially fear God and the consequences of His righteous judgement. Unlike ours, God's judgment is perfect and so is His love. God-willing our children will grow up and live out the things we strive to teach them in word and deed.
Comments
We had adopted a white, deaf boxer and named her Precious (I didn't come up with that). We had a very difficult time training her.
Once, she was running down the street and my brother in law took chase calling out "Precious! Precious! Stop!!!". It quite funny since she couldn't hear him.
Well, Chelle got the idea to teach Precious sign language. It worked well too.
But Precious, like many kids, had a stubborn streak when being disobedient. So, when she got in such ruts, she learned a simple trick. She'd simply turn her head to avoid getting rebuked.
Posted by: Mike Young | July 1, 2006 11:47 AM
On a related note, I've been listening to an excellent ongoing series on "Training Our Younger Children" from Covenant Life Church in Maryland. Check out this series on gospel-centered parenting here.
Posted by: Evers Ding | July 1, 2006 11:49 AM
I soooooooooo agree with you about discipline.
On another note, My husband and I recently started going to a reformed baptist church The kids sit in service as apposed to our previous church where the kids went to "children's church". I am blessed to see how well the children behave at our present church.
Posted by: candyinsierras | July 1, 2006 12:49 PM
Mike Y. wrote: "She'd simply turn her head to avoid getting rebuked."
Both my children and my dog have done this. Our dog knows sign language, also. His name is FLASH... and his name fits him.
But since my children and my dog can hear, they know that simply turning their head doesn't cut the mustard.
Candy, our church's children sit in the service as well. It is a HUGE blessing to have them worship with us. The only time we have one of our older boys take Rachael to the nursery anymore is to go potty. We try to remember to make sure this is accomplished beforehand... but oopsy... sometimes we forget. Training children to sit in the service without being enormously disruptive takes a bit of training that goes a whole lot more smoothly if such training is consistent at home.
Lois Ding... welcome. I have read a bit of your site. We are likeminded in raising children it appears. Thank you for that link.
Posted by: 4ever4given | July 1, 2006 01:01 PM
Oh, and one more thing. Usually, "3 seconds" is more than that. For example, I've heard: "One.... two.... two and a quarter... two and a half..."
Sheesh. Well at least they're teaching fractions. =-)
Posted by: Evers Ding | July 1, 2006 06:19 PM
Fractions... that's funny!
Well, and sometimes when they get to 3... nothing. Nothing happens even though their child is still disobeying.
Who's in charge?
Posted by: 4ever4given | July 1, 2006 07:47 PM
When we see parents counting to three we know the kids have them (the parents) quite well trained to let them disobey for a while longer. ;-)
Posted by: sheshe | July 1, 2006 09:36 PM