My Late Night Visitor
'Round about 4 am local time, I heard the patter of little feet heading my way. The conversation went like this: Captain Earthquake: Mama, can I sweep wif you? Me: No, honey, you have to sleep in your own bed. I can't sleep when you're in my bed. (We have so gone...
Reverse Resolutions
Happy New Year, everyone. I'm a little behind the times on offering up that wish. Sorry. 🙂 Lots of busy-ness here at Earnest Parenting. Tomorrow (or today, if you're reading this at a normal hour on Friday) I am hosting ten (10!!) children. I've got 6 of them...
Why I Avoid Extremes in Parenting
Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise-why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool-why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Ecclesiastes 7: 16-18 NIV I...
Sibling Rivalry: Principals to Keep the Peace
Sibling squabbles...the bane of many parent's existence. Conflicts include all manner of button-pushing, name-calling, manipulation, one-upmanship, and can degenerate into physical dustups quickly. So what can we do to solve the problem? Let me start by saying that...
I Have an Etsy Site!
**UPDATE: all of the puppet theaters are gone, thanks! I still have puppet theaters available, so I listed them on my very own Etsy site. Are you proud of me? I'm proud of me! It was very stressful, wrapping my poor little pea-brain around all those photos and...
Sibling Rivalry: First, Address the Root Cause
Mary asked in the comments of Verbal Fireworks for some Love and Logic responses to sibling rivalry that might work. I'm putting my thoughts here and in the next post on this topic; any other suggestions that you may have to add to the comments section would be just...
The Joy of Laughter
My weekly post at ForeverParenting is up. 🙂 I thought Giggles was a good thing to think about in the last minute hecticness (is that a word?) before Christmas. Is there anything more beautiful than hearing your child laugh? My favorite is when the boys start...
Taking It For Granted
I'm tripping over books as I walk around the house today, and every time I do I'm just struck by the miracle that is my boys' reading. I've mentioned in other posts that there's been a great deal of difficulty associated with home schooling here at Earnest...
Verbal Fireworks
I've been noticing lately the power of words, especially the spoken word. All 4 boys are demonstrating an ability to seriously get under each others' skin, just by using their words. Having 2 sets of twins can make for some fascinating interactions. We have a couple...
Last Minute Christmas Gift: Puppet Theater
**UPDATE: The puppet theaters are no longer available. Thanks! Shameless commercial plug here: If you're needing a last minute Christmas gift I may have a solution for you. I am on the board of an addiction recovery ministry and one of the things we did for a...