MOPS

MOPS

MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers.  This is my mom’s club.  I learned about it from my friend, Lindsey, who is also part of it and the director.  I love this group!!! We meet every other Wednesday and I wish it was every week.  The group consists of moms with children of all ages.  We also have our mentor moms who have kids in high school or are grandparents.  I love this group so much because they have really given me some great advice.  Also whenever I have been having a problem there is always someone there to say, “oh yeah, I’ve been through that too”.  They always have solutions to problems too.  We do a lot of great stuff at our meetings from having speakers, to crafts, to making meals, playing games, and going out for breakfast.  I think every mom should have a Mom’s club to be part of.  It just gives you a place to go to where you know you will be able to relate to others.  Above is a picture of Alexander with his MOPS friends.  All four babies were born in the last two months.  They are sitting oldest to youngest, left to right.  Alexander is the second one on the left.

Today we had a speaker who presents the Love and Logic philosophy.  Yes another book. Yes another philosophy.  I have heard of Love and Logic from teaching.  Love and Logic is basically about giving your child (or student) choices.  It’s about getting rid of the power struggle and letting the child know you are hearing what they are saying.  When teaching I used this with a student who misbehaves.  I would either have them make their own consequences, or provide them with two consequences of which they can choose from.   With your child it can be simple as “Do you want to brush your teeth or put on your pjs first?” Today our speaker talk about bedtime struggles, changing clothes struggles, cleaning up, tantrums at home and in public areas.  I think she had a lot of great stuff to say and it all made sense to me.  I would suggest any parent of a child 2 or older to read the book or do some research on it.  Teachers I suggest getting the teacher version.  You don’t have to do everything the books says but I think has some good ideas.  One great line from today is when a child rolls their eyes at you say “Can you see your brain when you do that?”.  Its about not letting them push your buttons.  My other favorite was with cleaning up, “You get to keep the toys you pick up and I get to keep the toys I pick up.”  If you do this you must follow on keeping the toys and having them earn them back.  Last one I liked was when your child throws that first tantrum you are suppose to step back and say “Really, that’s it? I thought it was going to be much better than that.”  Now do I know if any of this works…well some of it I know it does from when I taught.  However, we will see with Alexander throws his first tantrum or bath time becomes a struggle. 

Other random stuff from my day

Alexander was an angel this morning.  He woke up and feed and then just chilled in his bouncy seat for an hour and half while I got ready for my MOPS meeting.

We have been going on walks almost every day and it’s starting to really annoy me that people park their cars on the sidewalks.  I walk down some semi busy streets in my neighborhood and don’t like the fact I have to walk in the street and around a car with my baby.  Also now being a mom, I realize how fast people drive down our streets.  I know I sound like an old lady.

Last note, Eric is out of town on business today and tomorrow and I’m doing okay on my own!