Parenting 101

The school district I work for offers a parent training class every year and for the past four years, I've had the opportunity to help in this class. The first few years I worked primarily with the kids whose parents were taking the class, but the last two years I co-lead some of the lessons for the parents (mainly those dealing with "school issues"). This year it was particularly interesting to sit in and hear ALL of the lessons and the comments, questions, and feedback from the parents. And, while I gathered a lot of information that I know will be beneficial in raising Madigan, I also came to another realization listening to these parent's experiences. Even the BEST parenting course does not have all of the answers and sometimes the answers they do have don't translate well into reality. Therefore, parents are left with good principles but must "wing it" when those fall short. I say all of this to tell you about our "experience" today.

Scenario 1

You have two toddlers each in their seats right in the middle of lunch and the tornado siren goes off. What do you do?

"Textbook Answer" - Quickly remove the toddlers from their seats and settle them into a safe location. Explain to them that lunch will resume when all tornadic activity has cleared from the area.

What actually happened - We simply moved lunch into the bathroom. Lunch "to go" anyone?

Scenario 2

The two toddlers have now finished lunch but need to be somewhat contained because the tornado siren is STILL going off and according to the local news station, you'll be under a tornado warning for at least 20 more minutes. What do you do?

"Textbook Answer" - Close the door and encourage the toddlers to sit quietly in the designated area. Provide praise when they comply with your directions.

What actually happened - I dried out the tub with a towel, threw in a down comforter, dumped out the tub toys, and let them take a "bath" (minus the water, of course).

Jenna - "Madigan, I think your mom is crazy... "Maybe, but can you tell they had fun?

I can definitely say it wasn't anything I ever thought I'd need to prepare for, but the girls were wonderful and had quite a good time too. And thankfully, God watched out for us yet again in this "tornado season" and the storm passed us by with no damage.



And...
This really had nothing to do with the severe weather in our area, but it actually happened last night and I thought it fit in good with the parenting post.

Question: What do you get when you ask your 19 month old what she wants to wear to church?

Answer: