We are motivated by love. We fervently want our children to adopt our closely held values to improve, not our lives, but THEIRS. But how best to pass them on? The problem is that most parents have never had a chance to think about or practice this. That's where P.E.T. can help, but it's hard stuff.
How do I answer that?
"Who do you love more – me or the baby?" This is a doozy, right? If you say, "Neither -- I love you both the same!" will that do the trick? Probably not. Put yourself in his shoes for a short sec.
The Big Stuff
With my eldest now 16, I'm at the point where I can say that I'm dealing with stuff that's big by anyone's standards: drinking & curfew; faith v. organized religion; choosing a college; whether to take the SAT again; and sex, sexting & romance.
Car Conflict
I once randomly pulled off the highway just to make the fighting stop!!! In retrospect, you could say my desperate act in Whereever-the-Heck, Hong Kong was actually a safe move. Children are, after all, recognized to be a major distraction to drivers.
I don't resort to such dramatic lengths anymore. Now, more often than not, my car is a moving No Problem bubble.
6 P.E.T. Highlights of Summer 2014
When I gently raised the topic of language I realized I was jumping the gun. "Mom, I don't need that right now. I need to be Active Listened. You're supposed to do that stuff later. I'm still very upset."
I didn't mind the correction at all. Not. At. All.
I turned up the heat on summer homework -- C.U.E. #3
At the beginning of the summer, Claudia set herself to doing 20 minutes of Chinese a day and packed a fiction book and a fresh notebook for this purpose. Over one month in, she had done less than two hours.
Jump Right In & Active Listen
One of the best things about teaching P.E.T. is that I get to hear the excitement and wonder in parents' voices when they have Active Listened for the first time! Parents sometimes proudly share their stories after just the first session on this skill. I'd like to think it was the superlative instruction, but I know better.
To Thine Own Self Be True
She quickly took the letter out, and then her brow furrowed; too long passed. I leaned over and saw she had failed by a couple of points.
I looked at her and she blinked and shrugged, “That’s fine. I can take it again.”
Independence Day P.E.T.-Style
Upon leaving the house, I kept my mouth shut and did not mention homework in any way, shape or form nor did I discuss League of Legends (you may remember from last week that L.O.L. was his siren call). I simply nonchalantly waved “Buh-bye!” to Harrison, who was still in his pajamas. Under my breath I repeated that day's mantras: "His homework is not my problem" and "I can choose to be a new kind of mom!"