Reveling in Small Victories . . .

One of the things I took away from Biblical Parenting was to always assume positive motive, and not focus on assigning blame. So when something gets spilled, instead of assuming the child wasn't being careful or whatever, or even assuming who spilled it, just address what needs to happen. It doesn't matter WHY the milk spilled, now that it's spilled, it needs to be cleaned up (the book puts this all much more eloquently than I am LOL). So, over the last however long since I read the book, I've tried to do that (which isn't to say I don't sometimes forget & yell "I've told you a thousand times, don't throw balls in the house! Now look what you've done!"). When the kids spill food, I remind them "go get a wipe from under the sink & clean it up" (I keep the cloths that we use instead of paper towels in a bin under the kitchen sink, primarily because that puts them where the girls can easily reach them). And, it's paying off. Tonight after supper we were eating milkshakes and A spilled some. She started to call me, then stopped herself, went got a cloth, and cleaned it up. Yup, that's so much nicer than fighting over whether she should have been more careful to start with, and ending up with everyone grouchy & grudgingly cleaning it up.