When we did our foster care training last fall, Matt and I were asked to list 3 things a kid could do to "push our buttons." Mine were easy to come up with:
- Not listening.
- Not obeying.
- WHINING.
Ugh, I go from calm to crazy in just a few seconds when a kid starts to whine. My bio kids learned from a young age that whining isn't tolerated, and our 5-year old Bonus Boy is learning too. "I can't hear you when you whine. You'll have to start over and talk like a big boy if you want me to understand you..."
Also in foster care training, we were asked if we knew what to do to train kids away from these "button pushing" behaviors. We've been at this parenting gig for 21+ years, so we've learned a thing or two (and shucks if I haven't whined myself here and there over how difficult parenting can be sometimes).
But yes, we have quite a few tricks up our sleeves to help train a kid away from undesirable behaviors and to instead encourage positive, godly ones.
Our foster care trainer is a Christian, so it was fun to share one of the favorite character training tools we used when our kids were little. And it reminded us that we need to get these printed off to start using them with Bonus Boy!
