It's All About Values

You are currently browsing the archive for the It's All About Values category.

A Little Thing

February 26, 2010 in It's All About Values, Little Things | 2 comments

My daughter is now old enough that I can ask her to remind me of things, and there is a better chance that she’ll remember than that I will.  Of course, this only works with things that she values, but I still find it to be quite practical for my own sake, with the added bonus that she gets to exercise her memory and enjoy the rewards of doing so.

I realized this explicitly one morning when I told her to remind me after school to show her a video of hang gliding.  (She is still fascinated with flying and I’ve been telling her about all the ways that people can fly, even though we don’t have wings.)  I said, “I can show you a video of hang gliding.  Remind me after school.  Tell me that you want to see the video of hang gliding.  Can you say ‘hang gliding?’”

HANG -IDING.

“Good.  Hang gliding.  Remind me after school, ok?”

OK.

Driving home after school, after we had talked about what work she did at school and what she wanted for lunch, she suddenly said,

MOMMY!  YOU FORGOT THE HANG-IDING!

It’s all about values.

Showers

August 25, 2009 in It's All About Values, Parenting | No comments

It’s amazing what a simple activity can teach a young one.  I mentioned recently that Samantha has taken to showering with us instead of taking baths.  She loves it!  Now that she’s been doing it for a few weeks, she has learned:

  • How to open and close a twist-off bottle cap.  She was able to open these sporadically before, but since Adam filled up a tiny hotel shampoo bottle with her Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Sam’s skills have improved to the point where she can do it every time.
  • How to pour just the right amount of shampoo into her hand.
  • How to set that tiny bottle carefully on the shelf so that it does not tip over.
  • How not to slip and fall in the shower (although we really need to put those adhesive sticky things down).
  • How to soap up and wash every part of her body.  She was pretty good at this before, but now she is really thorough.  I haven’t washed any part of her in weeks.  Those tiny bars of hotel soap are great for kids!
  • How to keep soap out of her eyes. Well, she’s still learning this one, but she’s getting there.
  • How to shampoo her whole head of hair.
  • How to stick her whole head under the shower to rinse her face and hair.  This was a big accomplishment for her. 

None of these things are monumental, but she really didn’t care about any of those skills until she needed them to shower.  We’ve found that Samantha is not motivated to do things just for the sake of doing them.  For her, it’s all about values.

A Little Thing

July 17, 2009 in It's All About Values, Little Things | No comments

Samantha is learning to pump her legs on the swing.  The other day, she was doing such a great job that I exclaimed, “You’re swinging!”  I think I startled her because she fell forward off the swing in a heap.  The first thing she said when she got up was, TRY AGAIN! TRY AGAIN!  She may be a cautious child, but when she values something, she is persistent.

It’s All About Values

December 2, 2008 in It's All About Values, Parenting | No comments

Two years old is not too young for an Advent calendar.  Sam has already been “counting,” meaning that she parrots the sounds, one-two-three, etc.  She definitely knows the concepts “one” and “two.”  I have a feeling that she’s going to be focused on learning her numbers this month, now that chocolate is involved.  It’s all about values.