February 1, 2017
Redirecting Energy

Dr. Laura:

One of my nieces has 6 kids, all nearly grown, productive, truly nice people.  She stayed home to raise them, along with a strong and loving husband, each of them demonstrating with great wit, wisdom and patience consistently great parenting.

She once told me a story that illustrated all these qualities.  Two of her boys, at around ages eight and ten, were tap dancing all over her last nerve with their bickering one summer morning.  She went to the shed, got a length of clothesline and called the boys outside.  She put them nose to nose, arms at their sides, and proceeded to wrap the rope around and around them from shoulder to knee.  She told them she didn't know what their differences had been thus far, but they needed to work together right now, and she marched back into the house.

Looking out the window a few minutes later, they were wriggling, rolling and laughing their way out of the tangle, earlier arguments forgotten.  I commented that it was a clever punishment.  "Oh, no," she said.  "I wasn't punishing them.  I was just redirecting their energy!"

Sue



Posted by Staff at 10:59 AM