Led by Randy & Lynne Hilton (parents of 8), they knew a thing or two about parenting!
One of the tips Lynne told us about was the "playpen in a purse" concept. Which, simply put, is training your child to stay on a blanket when necessary.
I thought it sounded like such a great idea, however, as time went on, we didn't really have a huge need for it to be put into practice. Well, until now! We recently went to dinner at a friend's house and since G finished eating before the rest of us, he took off like a little tornado. A little hard to enjoy chat & dinner with our hosts! SO, we decided, it was time!
Andrew actually did it with him for about 10 minutes one night, and of great shock to us - he understood immediately! He wasn't crazy-happy about it, but he understood! So the next day I decided to try it while I was working on the computer, since it's in a very non-kid-proof area. I put him on the blanket with his toys and immediately, sad, sad tears!! But the funny thing is, he realized he had to stay there and didn't even try to "escape". So after a few minutes of sadness, he got busy playing with his toys. And stayed content for about 10 minutes or so. amazing!
It came in handy again this week with our little projects going on!
Sometimes he'll look up at me and clap 2x (his please), and if I shake my head no, then he goes back to playing. Somewhat cute!!
So, it hasn't been tested out of our home, but we're certainly hoping it will make the difference between sitting & enjoying a meal vs. chasing after a very busy little guy!
Anybody have any other tips on training during this stage?
11 comments:
I like it! We may revise it a bit though to - "Playpen in a Suitcase." :)
lucky for you your itty-bittys are going to fit in a suitcase for a while!! haha :)
Glad to hear it works at this age!! I only put Katelyn in her pack n play 2 times and keep hearing about this recently, but thought that it is to late... I'm going to try it. Thanks for sharing!!
This is such a great idea, I wish that I had known it when mine were little.
It is another way to teach obedience
Mom H
someone told me about this when I was pregnant. i think it's a fantastic idea, but have yet to try it. however, since nora is getting more mobile and we have another one coming soon, i think sooner rather than later is key. :) thanks for the reminder! LOVE YA!
I've been meaning to try this with Isaac and Ian. I know it won't work with Peter. I think I Isaac would do it but Ian is so stubborn, I don't know. =) Guess all I can do is try though.
I honestly wouldn't have thought it would work at this age, thought we were too late!! (Andrew's idea!) However, because of him being older, I think it actually almost worked better and the training was so much easier! I guess it's the same reason I like to teach piano students at age 10 instead of 5, they're just smarter when they're older. :) :)
what a great idea! Thanks for sharing this. I'm going to start this with our own little "tornado". One thing I did with Gavin was "sit time/self control". He has to sit still with his hands folded and do nothing for as long as I need him to (usually not longer than 5 min.) It works wonders when you are trying to check out at the grocery store or are on the phone with a doctor or something.
Thanks for the blanket tip!
This does sound like a good idea...I will have to try it out too. Thanks for the tip!
this is funny because Steve and I were JUST talking about that couple from your church and how we wished that we could have sat in on that class with you! We definitely want to try this.... such a good way to teach them to obey and have self control. I started letting Graeme play in his crib for a few minutes with a few toys and it was so refreshing to know that he was safe and sound and that I had a few minutes to put laundry away without worrying where he was rolling to;-)
p.s. I posted a picture of Graeme today and thought of you because he again has no clothes on!!! ;-) However, it was just one of those pictures that I had to snap right away and didn't have time to put clothes on him. He ReAlLy does where clothes, I promise! ;-)
uh-hmmmm,
"wear"
;-)
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