Because I Said So...House Rules

"Because I said so." How many times have you said that to your child? This morning when I was deciding what to write about, I remembered hearing those words many times from my mom's lips as she looked at me like either I had lost my mind or clearly she had brought the wrong child home from the hospital. I'll be honest, as much as I dreaded hearing those words, I had a certain amount of respect for my mom because she didn't sway or bend the rules of her house.
The moment you decide to have a baby you have to decide what the standards/rules of your house are going to be. Let's face it, we've all seen children being unruly with their parents out in public and thought (among other things), "What in the WORLD..." The primary reason children throw tantrums, hit/kick their parents, yell at them and call them names is because there are no standards set in the home. You can't make up all of the rules as you go along you've got to have some of them already in place. Don't get me wrong, I know children are going to try you but that's just it their trying you.  They want to know if mommy and daddy are going to do what they said they would do.  You have to follow through with consequences. Establishing rules along with clear and age appropriate consequences helps your child's mental and social development. Believe it or not, children don't just need rules, they like them! Rules show your children that you care. My mom was able to respond with, "Because I said so", because 9 times out of 10, I already knew what she was going to say, because of the rules she had already put into place. It's never too late to start establishing rules for your house. If your children are older it might be challenging but set them anyway; you can even let your children have some input, discuss the rules with your children, make sure the rules are age appropriate and that the consequences for breaking the rules are clear and most importantly follow through. Below is the link to the website for the show, "Super Nanny", with helpful information about setting rules.
 www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Supernanny.../House-rules.aspx



Have a fantabulous day! Why? Because I said so!  We'll talk again soon.