Being a Mom or Dad is a hard job. I know no one ever said it was a walk in the park (every day). There are days when everything seems to go smoothly and we just chug along without any anger, guilty feelings, resentment...all those wonderful (insert sarcasm!!!) feelings we get when our children misbehave, are rude or not polite.
Sometimes I don't understand what is going on inside their heads. They will be sweet as pie one minute and then the devil horns come out before I can blink. My 4 year old was read a book in school that I absolutely love. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a copy for our home. It is called, "Have you filled a bucket today?" by Carol McCloud. It is a terrific story about how each and every person walks around with an invisible bucket. When we talk nice and act nicely our bucket is full. When someone compliments us our bucket is full. When we do a kind act, we fill someone else's bucket. This is being a bucket filler. A bucket dipper is someone who is not using nice words, is not being helpful. They can dip out of their own bucket as well as someone else's. This is because when we are not nice to other people it affects us too.
This is a great book for children and adults alike. I read it to our girls and will continue to do so. I even plan on reading it to my 1st grade CCD class next week. (Yes, I am teaching CCD this year and I really am enjoying it. The kids are so fun and I am learning more about my faith as we go through this journey together).
I was thinking this morning after we had an unfortunate rough start to our day with our oldest daughter that I need to reiterate this story. So, I am going to go to the dollar store and see if I can find small buckets. If not then I will make buckets with construction paper. I will begin filling their buckets with something (treasure coins, cotton balls), to represent when they are caught doing something nice or using polite words. When they are being a bucket dipper their bucket will be emptied. If at the end of the day, or week their bucket is full they will receive an award (extra time staying up on the weekend, special outing etc).
I'm not positive how it will all work out. I need to gather all my supplies while I am out running errands. Either way, I don't think it will hurt. Some children learn more by seeing rather than just hearing. So, we'll give it a whirl and see how it goes. I'll keep ya'll posted.
Hope ya'll have a Happy Monday!
P.S. I can't wait for this cast to be off :-)
Sorry, ya'll I never got this post out yesterday so I am combining two. Today's is going to be kept short. It is very difficult to type with this cast, so I have to hurry =) We introduced our "buckets" last night and it is going well so far. I found some cute "fall" containers and we are using cotton balls to fill them. The girls are excited and I hope it works out well for all of us.
Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~Author Unknown
Sometimes I don't understand what is going on inside their heads. They will be sweet as pie one minute and then the devil horns come out before I can blink. My 4 year old was read a book in school that I absolutely love. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a copy for our home. It is called, "Have you filled a bucket today?" by Carol McCloud. It is a terrific story about how each and every person walks around with an invisible bucket. When we talk nice and act nicely our bucket is full. When someone compliments us our bucket is full. When we do a kind act, we fill someone else's bucket. This is being a bucket filler. A bucket dipper is someone who is not using nice words, is not being helpful. They can dip out of their own bucket as well as someone else's. This is because when we are not nice to other people it affects us too.
This is a great book for children and adults alike. I read it to our girls and will continue to do so. I even plan on reading it to my 1st grade CCD class next week. (Yes, I am teaching CCD this year and I really am enjoying it. The kids are so fun and I am learning more about my faith as we go through this journey together).
I was thinking this morning after we had an unfortunate rough start to our day with our oldest daughter that I need to reiterate this story. So, I am going to go to the dollar store and see if I can find small buckets. If not then I will make buckets with construction paper. I will begin filling their buckets with something (treasure coins, cotton balls), to represent when they are caught doing something nice or using polite words. When they are being a bucket dipper their bucket will be emptied. If at the end of the day, or week their bucket is full they will receive an award (extra time staying up on the weekend, special outing etc).
I'm not positive how it will all work out. I need to gather all my supplies while I am out running errands. Either way, I don't think it will hurt. Some children learn more by seeing rather than just hearing. So, we'll give it a whirl and see how it goes. I'll keep ya'll posted.
Hope ya'll have a Happy Monday!
P.S. I can't wait for this cast to be off :-)
Sorry, ya'll I never got this post out yesterday so I am combining two. Today's is going to be kept short. It is very difficult to type with this cast, so I have to hurry =) We introduced our "buckets" last night and it is going well so far. I found some cute "fall" containers and we are using cotton balls to fill them. The girls are excited and I hope it works out well for all of us.
Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~Author Unknown