Saying Goodbye to Whining, Complaining and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids

Chapters 1-3

Recently I have been uber-convicted about failing to seek wisdom in regards to parenting. When we had Jed, I began buying books that would see me through his 18+ years. I began reading feverishly, but as time became more sparse, and as many issues I was reading about were not cropping up in the life of my newborn baby boy, I began to hold off on reading any more parenting books. This putting-off has lingered for many years now. I read an article here, and a page there. I listen to a sermon every now and again, but my children are at some very precarious ages, and I have noticed many bad habits of the heart - not just in them, but especially in me. This has caused me to re-chart my course, and to intentionally again utilize the many good navigating tools that I have at my disposal. So, I am planning to read 10 or so parenting books over the course of the school year. I chose to begin with the two that were most in need - one dealing with whining/complaining/bad attitudes and one dealing with raising boyz to men - I mean boys becoming men, one of which is fastly aging before my eyes. I hope to write many of the quotes and thoughts from these books on this blog, mainly for me and for practice. I need to better summarize what I am learning, so I can better apply it to my heart and life. Below are some of the key quotes in the first 3 chapters of Saying Goodbye to Whining, Complaining and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller.

This is a book about honor. Honor doesn't just address behavior, it involves the heart.

Honor is treating people as special, doing more than expected, and having a good attitude.

Obedience is doing what someone says, right away, without being reminded.\

Move from the wrong behavior to the dishonoring heart issue to the honoring heart issue to the right behavior.

Right behavior grows out of the honoring heart issue.

Whining and complaining are manipulative techniques used by children to get what they want...Another technique is badgering...Children must see that their tricks won't work and they need to learn a more honoring way of communicating...there is an honoring way of asking permission, making requests and getting approval.