Brother For Sale

“Brother for Sale! I have a brother for sale! Anyone? A penny? A nickel? A dime? Anyone?” Laughter. Today this was a happy scene! The boyz in the kitchen eating breakfast and our 11 year old pipes in with all of this in a funny and teasing manner!

Now I have to say here that this isn’t always the case! Much of the time it is not done nicely (they all found this one funny though) and frankly is usually intended to hurt or as revenge. It saddens me to no end that they do this!

We try always to encourage them to handle their anger appropriately and give them the tools they need to do so. To help them to understand the consequences of “revenge” and hateful words. And then we pray! What more can we do? Hubby and I don’t fight so we know they aren’t picking it up from us – we tease and every once in a while have a difference of opinion. So, we pray and read the Bible to discover the basics of rearing boyz!

That said, there are also many wonderful tools out there to help parents – often written from the perspective of someone who’s “been there done that”! We can learn from those more experienced than ourselves! I’m going to consider this my “Fun Finds Friday” post even though I went about it rather oddly – and below I’m going to list some websites and books that we have used and read over the years!

Books:

• Parenting With Love And Logic (Updated and Expanded Edition) – This is one of the first books that I was introduced to as a new mom and I love the ideas they present to train your children to think for themselves and make decisions based on choices.
• The New Dare to Discipline – one of Dr James Dobson’s most known books, but I appreciate the candor and challenges he poses to parents who are shy to discipline their children.
• The New Strong-willed Child: Birth Through Adolescence – We have a Strong-Willed one and this book offers great strategies and tecniques to use for them.
• The Power of a Praying® Parent Book of Prayers – This is a new one for me, but I am familiar with The Power of a Praying Wife and love it!
• Bringing Up Boys – Offers deeper insight into the minds and hearts of boys!
• Feed Me I’m Yours – Revised – Great information, suggestions, and recipes for feeding your baby healthy homemade foods!
• Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster*: *Continuously Advertised Nutritionally Deficient Yummies (Lansky, Vicki) – Fabulous recipes for alternative snacks and desserts to keep your family healthy while still offering foods that your children will actually eat!

Websites:

• Focus On The Family – Dr James Dobsons well known ministry – articles and resources are available here on a large variety of topics for the family!
• Focus On Your Child – A division of Focus on the Family that is specifically geared to parents as they raise their little ones!
• Plugged In Online – Unsurpassable resource for insight into all of the new movies, videos and TV shows from a Family Friendly Perspective!
• All Mom Info – I know that this is my own website, but I actually have access to great parenting information and articles, so I use this for myself even LOL! Some of the resources such as recipes and more are still at www.AllMomShops.com.

That will do it for today! Have fun today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!