Love and Logic

My daughter has always been a beautiful young girl. You could never have convinced me that my child would ever enter into the teenage years any differently. And in a twinkling of the eye, she began to change. Not horribly, I do not mean to imply. Just a tweenager kind of thing!

So I go to the Goodwill this past week, as I often do. I love that place! And so out of all the books there, God places my hand on this one. I pick it up, thumb through it, hang on to it for a walk around the store, and end up putting it back because I didn't think I really needed it.

So then a few days later, back to the Goodwill, and back to search for the book. I couldn't get it out of my mind the few days I was away. I truly believe it was God nudging me to go back. am glad I listened. What a total change in perception this book has given me.

I began immediately to apply the ideas of love and logic to my daughter and have been astounded thus far at how this works. Of course, incredibly, it is something I have been learning to practice for years with other relationships but just never applied it to my child.

There are so many things we as parents need to understand physically and mentally about adolescence years. It helps so much to realize what is going on in their minds and bodies. and it is much easier to communicate with a young person when bearing these things in mind. And one key emotion we must have as parents is true empathy with their feelings. It helps to take a trip down memory road as to my own youth. That helps me give empathy and not anger. I think our natural impulse is to shield our kids from every mistake we ever made. Not happening! Wasted energy!

I highly recommend this read if you are looking at rearing kids from 11 to 18!