Always Learning

I've been a mom for almost 15 years. But, I'm always trying to learn how to do my job better....how to do it differently. I fall short so many times. Too many. The other night I had a short temper with Tuba. I felt so badly. I stewed about it all night and it kept me awake thinking. I said sorry to Tuba and gave him a snuggle. He of course forgave me and life moved on. Except that I still felt bad. I want to do better. When the house gets quiet at night and I have time to reflect on the day I tend to focus on what I did wrong or what I could have done better. Cam tells me all the time to think of at least three things I did well. I do use that exercise and it does help me to see a clearer picture. But, like the example with Tuba. I did do wrong. I pulled out some of my parenting books and read some refresher material. It's always helpful to me to re-read parenting advice or ideas since each kid is different and each situation is new. These are my favorite parenting books. Okay, don't laugh...seriously. I love Super Nanny's book. Really! I love her show and I LOVE her book. The chapters are very to the point. I mean...anyone with a passel of small kids does NOT have time to read lengthy chapters to get to the meat of what to do! I really like Super Nanny's method for time out. It helped me to realize that I needed to get down on my kids' level and look in their eyes. Sounds pretty simple but I was not doing it. I can be like a maniac hollering from one room to kids in another room. Hello? How well does that work. Ummmm....NOT well. She gives steps to follow and they work. I have used the Super Nanny TO system for a couple of years. But, over time and as chaos increased I have gotten sloppy in my method. ie: maniac hollering lunatic. Not pretty. Another of my favorite books is Love and Logic. The authors have many books but the one I have is specifically for toddlers. I find parenting toddlers to be VERY challenging. The book is wonderful and helped me potty train Baby George. I did what the book said and he was potty trained...in a day! Okay, it might just be the child but the method was great. Love and Logic is big on choices. In my rushed and sometimes frustrated day I had forgotten to be giving lots of choices. It is amazing how you can get (trick....hehehehe) a toddler into doing what you want/need him/her to do. Yipee! What are your favorite parenting book? Leave it in the comments section.