Consistency

If you are calm, you are consistent, and you always do what you say you're going to, you will earn their (your children's) respect and trust.

Dr. Kevin Leman

If you are reading along in MomSense, we are in chapter six about consistency. Yikes... This is an area I could use improvement in. With my husband working a swing shift (12 hour shifts alternating between days and nights with an added hour and a half of driving time), we have a hard time finding a balanced schedule. While most little ones are getting ready for bed, my son is just getting to see his daddy for the first time that day. We have a late dinner, and little man gets to bed later than I would like or later than nights when daddy is working his night shift, and it is just my little guy and me. Some nights my son really tests me with his strong will wondering if I will follow through with the punishment I've threatened. Sometimes I don't. Or sometimes we end up going to the park even though I swore if he didn't take his "no thank you" bite during dinner he wouldn't get to go that night. On my end I recognize that it is very important to follow through with what I promise - whether it is reward or punishment. he needs to have a routine that he can trust just like he can trust in my husband and me. Now that's convicting!

Questions we will go over in discussion are from pages 85-86.

• Describe a time when it was difficult for you to be consistent in a parenting situation:
• How did your child respond to you?
• Share with other moms any struggles you have regarding consistency in your parenting practice, and ask a good friend to check in on this with you regularly to see if you're getting better at following through.