Monday, March 15, 2010

Self-Regulating my aversion to Self-Regulation

So I'm introducing my crew to the ML concept of self-regulation.
Can I make a confession?
I haven't liked the word self-regulation.
It kinda sounded psycho-babbly to me.
It reminded me of a lady I knew who would reprimand her two year old saying, "Nathan, that is not acceptable." This two year old would stare blankly at her while he continued you to pull his sister's hair, and she would sit on the couch and say, "Nathan, it's not acceptable." And he would continue to pull the hair.
Because Nathan and I knew something his mom didn't. Nathan didn't know what the words 'not acceptable' meant.

Does a word or the idea of using a word every make you feel like abandoning a process?

I was tip-toeing around this one, even though I whole-heartedly believe in the principle of self-regulation.
At our last ML workshop, the trainers talked about discussing self-regulation with your children and how to invite them into the discussion of WHY self-regulation is a good idea. They encouraged me to take the time to define what self-regulation means.

I've meditated on those thoughts and realize that I have been teaching self-regulation to my kids I just haven't been using that word or label, if you will.
So I've rounded up some scriptures on self-control and we're going to sit down and talk about
using this new word in our vocabulary as a family.

After all, not giving it try would be...unacceptable.
;)

No comments: