Discipline

Travis and I have learned that spankings, when used sparingly, can be an effective form of punishment for long lasting results (just remind the kids, and they get right back on track).  Tonight when we were saying our family prayer (Trav was still working, so it was me and the two kids) Phoenix was bouncing all over the bed.  I want our kids to have reverence and respect for our Heavenly Father, so I wanted to "teach" Phoenix a lesson (don't worry, my spankings never hurt...but the thought is enough to scare some sense into the kids).  So I tried to pin Phoenix down for about 5 minutes, only to have him wiggle out of my hold seconds later.  Eventually I gave up (it was a battle I was NOT going to win...yes, I just admitted that I cannot pin down a 4 year old that weighs 35 lbs), so I pretended that I was being nice and decided against the spanking.  Phoenix still learned his lesson because he was so scared (even though I had been fighting off laughter).  Here are a few highlights from his personal prayer about 10 minutes later:  Please bless that Mommy will be nice to me, Please bless that I won't get a spanking, Please bless me to be reverent, Please bless that we can go to Busch Gardens.  

Kids make life fun (even if the fun is sometimes at their expense).