Behavior Breakthrough

Many of you may not know that I was a horibble child for a few years early in life. I'm pretty sure I made my mom cry daily, and I would climb Eric's crib and fall in on top of him (immediately after my parents told me not to). Once my mom spanked me and I turned to her and indignantly said, "Look what you did! You made my butt red!" To say I was a strong-willed child who gave my parents a lot of grief would be quite the understatement. My mom, for fairness' sake, has wished the same type of child upon me.

Well, wonder of wonders, Lily has started trying to test the boundaries in the last couple weeks. I didn't spoon-feed her anything but yogurt when she first started learning to eat solids, and she has been a wonderful eater who rejects nothing but blueberries - but this past week I have fed her nearly everything. She has decided to throw all of her food on the floor. You may think that this is a normal behavior for an toddler. Well, my child is doing it out of defiance. She picks up the food, looks straight at me, I tell her "no", and she throws it down without ever losing eye contact. She does not have this problem at school, and I have heard that children tend to be more well behaved for people other than their parents.

Tonight she went back into her high chair for a trial run. I'd roasted corn and zucchini with chicken, and fully expected all of my efforts to end up on the floor. Well, they did at first. She picked up a piece of corn and threw it on the floor. She picked up another piece of corn and I immediately said "no" and explained to her that we do not throw our food on the floor since it is not polite, and that if she continued down that path that I would have to spank her hand. Now, I'm not sure that she can fully understand that concept - maybe she can - but my goal was mainly to start a habit of teaching my child through language why she can or can't do something. Apparently it worked, because she decided to eat that piece instead of throwing it, and afterwards pronounced "Yum!!!" with a big grin on her face. She still had her moments, but overall she ate very well, and I am very pleased.

I read "Shepherding a Child's Heart" a few months ago and it made me really think about my goals for discipline and child raising. I want to raise a daughter who loves Jesus above all else - and the way we show Jesus we love Him is through obedience. My hope is that one days she will be a young woman of purity, modesty, respectfulness, politeness, and charm.

I can already tell there will be struggles... But hopefully we are on our way :)