obedience Archives — What's up Fagans?

How to Dole Out Consequences Without Getting Emotional

This post contains affiliate links which may earn me commissions should you click through them and take certain actions. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See full disclosure here.

If you want a better way to discipline without emotion, avoiding yelling, hitting, or spanking a child, then here's a smart way to remove yourself from the drama and stress of disciplining toddlers and older children with consequence and rewards jars. As a stay at home mom of two children, ages 6 and 2 years, I'm no stranger to the laundry ...

5 Sure-Fire Ways to Stop a Tantrum Before It Starts

One minute you're having a great day; things are going super-smoothly for you, your kids are behaving and it seems like it might just be a peaceful day after all. And then, out of the blue, your toddler throws a crying, screaming temper tantrum of epic proportions, and it seems like there's nothing you can do to calm him down except ride it out ...

How to Calm Down a Crying Child Without Yelling or Bribing

I cannot for the life of me remember where I picked up this parenting tip on how to calm down a crying child, but I assure you, it works to get your kids calm, and without yelling or bribing. As a parent of four kids, including twins, I have dealt with a lot of crying over the last five and a half years. Sometimes simultaneously from multiple ...

How to Stop Twins From Hitting Each Other

Does it seem like your day is spent tearing your toddler twins apart so they don't hit each other? They resort to hitting for any little thing, from having a toy taken away to their brother sitting too close. You hear about other well-behaved kids who play nicely and don't need to be refereed every minute. You begin to wonder what in the world is ...

The Parent’s Guide to Teaching Moral Values: 138 Ways to Raise Great Kids

A long time ago I started a series on this blog called Instilling Values in Children. The point of this series was to guide parents on their journey of teaching moral values to their kids, which is of more importance than raising academically capable children, or, at least, it should be. As parents we want to raise great kids, kids who know how to ...

The Terrible Fours and the Impossibility of Handling the Attitude

We've hit the terrible fours It's here. At long last the "terrible" age has struck my once sweet, relatively obedient children and turned them into bi-polar terrors. There's tantrums, name calling, extremes, screaming, door slamming, hitting, slapping, jumping, climbing, door locking, unbuckling, and whining coming far too frequently from my ...

What is the hardest part about fasting for you?

I gave a sermon or talk to my church congregation today. And my assigned topic was The Law of the Fast: Fasting and Fast Offerings. I am not awesome about fasting, as I don't fast during pregnancy and while nursing, for health reasons. This essentially means I go about two years without fasting. But, I have found ways to get around that (and you ...

Book Review: 1-2-3 Magic – Effective Discipline for Young Kids

Josh and I recently bought the book 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas Phelan, and have been implementing what it teaches. We have been counting our girls wrongful deeds or tantrums and putting them in time-outs. And it has helped SO much. Having two two-year-olds could be a real nightmare, but it is mostly a joy. ...

9 Parenting Tactics for Toddlers That Really Work

We are not perfect parents. Soooo far from perfect most days. But, there are nine things I think we do alright on when it comes to parenting tactics for toddlers. The following tips and toddler discipline ideas seem to be working for us and our kids. Parenting Tactics for Toddlers 1. Free range - Free play. Josh and I figured early on that if ...