One of the classes I attended was taught by Richard and Linda Eyre, authors of several books, but one in particular is called The Entitlement Trap. April, over at Power of Moms have had them talk at her retreats so when I heard they were at Education Week and I was super excited to see their class. They did not disappoint! What wonderful speakers they are! They brought so many good parenting ideas to the table and I tried my best to absorb everything they had to say. But since I know I can't absorb it all, I went ahead and pre-ordered my book this morning.
We went to about six classes (not all were parenting classes) and only one I considered a dud. It was a class on discipline and basically it was a load of crap. That teacher must have had perfect little children who never misbehaved. Her theory was always use reasoning with discipline and just stay consistent. For example, if a kid is jumping on the bed on an heirloom quilt you say, "Please stop jumping." If the kid still jumps, add reasoning..."Please stop jumping, you may damage the quilt and it is very special to me." And if still jumps, you need to just keep repeating in a calm voice until that child finally makes the decision to stop jumping. Now, I don't know how much time that lady has, but I have a gazillion other things to do...not to mention the other kids running amuck while you're trying to reason with this one kid! Call me old fashioned, but I think it's okay to be stern sometimes.
Anyway, I shouldn't go into a class I didn't really care about. The point is, there are so many great classes and great speakers...I'm glad I got to go this year.
I walked away from the day feeling empowered...I know that sounds silly, but it's true. As moms we just get drained over time, and this is what I needed to get me going again. Perfect timing with school starting next week. A fresh start with new ideas!
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