Teaching & Learning

Ever wonder how exactly one might teach a 2 year old patience? Yeah, me to!

I've discovered that trying to teach Ian the words "Wait" or "Just a minute" is about as easy as bathing a cat. He just doesn't get it, and doesn't seem interested in getting it. He's relentless when it comes to repeating himself - one cannot say the same thing over & over again quite enough, apparently.

And, it seems that he's doing a bang-up job of teaching his brother & sister this same technique. I always figured that the older kids would teach the younger kids both good & bad habits, hoping against hope that the good would out-weigh the bad. But, it seems that while the younger kiddos seem to be oblivious to the good habits that he/she might learn from the older kiddos, the older kiddos have discovered that if you say something enough, and drive your mommy & daddy bonkers, you will either get what you want, or get punished. Most of the time, it's punished, but every now and then I find myself yelling "OK" just to get them to zip-it! Maybe not the best parenting move, but I like to tell myself that I could always do worse. Gotta pick your battles right?

And, you would think that the punishments would be enough to prevent them from repeating themselves, but not our kids! Nope, they have short-term memories and seem to completely forget that their constant badgering does nothing to help their cause. But, you have to give them credit...they are definitely persistent...and they get that particular characteristic from both mommy & daddy.

Isn't persistence a virtue?