Love and Logic

As a young adult, I am constantly challenged on how I want to raise my children. There are many "Well what would you do if your child did this?" conversations in my past and I know there will be a ton more in my future.

I wanted to dedicate a post about the parenting style of Love and Logic.

Many people have never heard of this form of parenting. They have no idea what I am talking about when I say I want to give my children choices and allow natural consequences. So here is the gist of what Love and Logic is all about.

I want to begin by explaining choices. Love and Logic is centered around the idea of choices. An example would be, say your child won't stop throwing rocks. You response would be " Well Jane, you can't throw rocks because you could hurt someone. You can either quit throwing rocks now, or come and sit by me until we decide as a team that you understand that you can no longer throw rocks." If the child proceeds to continue to throw rocks, you make the correct choice for them. "Jane, I see that you have continued to throw rocks even though I explained that you may hurt someone. Since you didn't make the correct choice this time, I will have to make it for you. You can now come and sit by me until we decide that you understand you can not throw rocks."

The idea of this style of parenting is to teach kids responsibility. Your child must be responsible for his/her actions. Choices can come in many forms such as: letting them pick which shirt they want to wear(from a few shirts that you have already deemed acceptable), what cereal they want to eat, and if they want to join the family at the dinner table.

I could go on and on about this all night because I love this style of parenting that much and there is much more to it then just choices (thats just my favorite part). However, I know I will make mistakes as a parent. I won't always offer choices because my first instinct will be to punish in some circumstances. These are things I want to work through and hopefully (if you read my last post) will gain patience in. I can not wait until I am a parent.

If you want to know more about Love and Logic here is a resource:
http://www.loveandlogic.com