Sometimes I feel that I need to go back to school when it comes to being a parent. I guess the fact that we are raising four daughters, one who will be a teenager in a matter of months and one who was in diapers just last year, has something to do with it. Girls have very interesting needs. They can be emotional, hormonal and even just plain crazy. You'd think that being a girl myself, I would remember back to the days of my youth and know exactly how to deal with them....WRONG!! Everyday I am learning new things about my girls, myself and I am re-evaluating how I parent. Besides, I've never been a parent of a teenager before, let alone a girl.
I have been doing lots of reading lately. I want to be a good parent. I want to understand my children's needs, no matter how diverse they may be. And diverse they are. It's interesting looking at my girls and seeing the stark differences among them. Realistically I need to parent them each differently, according to their own emotional makeup and needs. What works for one, may not work for the other....or should I say will definitely not work for the other. Also the fact that there is a five year gap between the older two girls and the younger two presents interesting set of circumstances in itself.
My oldest like to be in charge of the younger ones. She like to be the "mommy" per say...but this is also repeated in the younger two. The five year old like to boss the three year old around and be her "mommy". But then you have the baby of the family....she'll be four in November. She doesn't like anybody bossing her around. She is always striving to excel above the others. She wants to be the best. She loves to be first. And if she isn't, she is terribly disappointed and sometimes distraught.
I must say that I have my hands full but I embrace the fact that God will never give me more than I am able to handle. But I want to make sure I am doing my part, to be the best parent I can be for my girls. So that is why I am reading...to glean, to learn, to better understand my girls. I thought I'd share some of the books that I have already read or those that are on my to do reading list for the future. I'm sure when our stuff finally arrives from the states, this list will continue to grow.
Here's what's on my bookshelf. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them.
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| Bringing Up Girls |
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| Keep the Siblings,Lose the Rivalry |
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| Shephering a Child's Heart |
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| Raising Maidens of Virtue Ok, I'm having a little difficulty posting and linking my pictures. Please forgive me. It's late and I'll try to fix it tomorrow. |
1 comment:
Those are all great books. You are dong an excellent job with your girls. We always used the Parenting with Love and Logic books. They even have ones for teens, since teens are different than younger ones.
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