Bribing Your Children is Okay.

Each month I look forward to the arrival of my Parents Magazine. Not for the advice on the cool 168 step crafts to do with your kids. That stuff just depresses my non-crafty self. But they have some fun articles that tend to reaffirm that you're not alone in this world of parenting. Here are a few of my favorites from a recent article, "39 Things Every Mom Should Know."



1.Don't beat yourself up if you have to use a bribe.

The concept of beating myself up has never occurred to me. I use bribes at every meal time.

2.Teach them to pump on the swings ASAP

True dat! Tim and I fight like school children over who gets swing duty every time we visit the park.

3.I know you're supposed to use natural consequences to punish bad behavior, but sometimes it's hard to think of natural consequences. In these cases, try threatening your kids with clipping their toenails or trimming the hair around their ears.

Love this. I think I'll try it today - dude cringes at the sight of his nail clippers.

4.Don't administer a punishment that hurts you more than it does them.

Does that mean I shouldn't have taken him home after he pinned our neighbor friend against the wall so he could get to the puzzles first? Because I really didn't want to go home yet.

5.Do not allow the word "wienies" in your home.

Agreed. 100% agreed. I would add "wiener" to that list. We use "peeps." It just seems so much "cooler and hipper."

6.It's fine to brag about yourself to your kids.

If dude tells you how beautiful and intelligent I am, this did NOT come from me. He comes up with this stuff. All on his own.

7.Put band-aids on everything your kids want you to. Why not?

There's nothing cuter than a kid with 8 tweetie bird band aids on. I haven't introduced band aids yet. Our kid is WAY too cautious to even need such a thing.



Thanks to Parents Magazine for approving all of my negative parenting traits.