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What is the best method for disciplining our kids?
At the end of the day, the crowd broke into an uproar when we heard Oprah Winfrey proclaim, "Hi, everybody!" We had all been anxiously awaiting the Q&A of Oprah with Michelle Obama, the hostess of our summit.
Michelle Obama spoke of many things: self-value, self-worth, defining ourselves and handling criticism. She described how she chose her priorities and what she values most. But of all she described and shared, one line stuck with me. After Oprah asked her what she would be leaving the White House most proud of, she stated
His little arms wrap around my neck and he tells me he loves. We tell each other that it is okay to have big feelings. We are the pair in the family that can feel happiness at a ten and anger at a ten. That day, I had been at a ten in anger and screamed at his father in front of him. I was taking the quiet moment in the evening to narrate what had happened that day. As he walked away to get into his bed I was grateful. He was six years old and had learned to accept his sensitivity and the lessons his emotions give him. At that moment I wondered, is that good or am I setting my son up for failure?
I cringed as my husband told my daughter that he would no longer help her order the next time we went to a restaurant. We have a hard and clean rule of not disagreeing in front of the children when one of us is setting a boundary, but in this situation I could not hold my tongue. I had never thought about it, but we disagreed about whether or not our children should order their own food at a restaurant.
