The Toddler Years (Oh crap, they are moving)

So, your munchkins are moving around and you think it is great until you realize they can climb up most of your furniture.  They can also stick stuff into other stuff.  Like you car keys into an electrical socket.  They will find the one socket behind the couch that you did not think you needed to cover and stick your car keys into it.  Bent mine all to heck.  Just saw a little pop out of the corner of my eye.  Thank God for the new breakers that shut the electricity off when this happens.  I think they invented this just for my kids, so they don't die.  Tyler also had on rubber soled shoes, he just looked a little startled.

I of course, did not realize the electricity was off, screamed my head off, ran across the room and pushed Tyler away from the outlet.  This is not what you are supposed to do, according to all the touchy feely books out there.  You are not supposed to be sitting on the floor, rocking your child and by turns yell at him and hug him.  Only about 98% of us would do what I did.  

When your child starts to move around is a great time to set boundaries and limits and to start disciplining him/her.  I am at odds with the new age world of letting small children explore their environment unchecked.  Those are the little monsters who are running amok at the park.  Wouldn't want to impede their development with a little discipline.  Wrong.  Giving your child a set of limits will help them greatly in life.  You have limits, I have limits, kids need limits.  Our limits are called laws and having morals.  All adults have these.  Kids need them too.

I guess I always felt that a spank on a diapered butt would not hurt as much as a car hitting them because they ran into the street.  A swat on a hand reaching for the stove teaches the child that they should not reach for the hot stuff.  I do not believe in beating children, far from it.  But you cannot go to the extreme of never disciplining either.  No one wants to be the bad guy anymore, but you are not supposed to be your child's friend until they are forty.  Someone told me that if your teenager did not tell you that they hated you at least three times a day, you are not doing your job.

It is a big responsibility raising kids.  We all have bad days where our heads pop off and spin around like in the exorcist.  I am not proud of those moments.  Usually this happens as they start getting mouthy.  I guess I always go back to Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child up in the he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it"

What or who is your biggest challenge when it comes to setting down some rules in your house?

God bless and keep you and yours.