Berenstain Bears and DD

If I tell you a little secret about me, you will probably laugh. But I am going to tell you anyway. When my husband and I started having children, none of our friends had children yet and our family did not live close by. We knew very little about parenting. So of course we read every parenting book we could find:

Dr. Spock's Baby & Child Care

What to Expect When Expecting

The Wonder of Boys
Coping With A Picky Eater

Child Wise

Raising a Responsible Child and on and on and on.......

Well, my little secret is this:

MY BEST PARENTING ADVICE CAME FROM THE BERENSTAIN BEARS

 ...... ....yep that's what I said, a children's book was my best parenting guide.

Here are some of my favorites:





 

 

Now you are probably wondering why I am sharing this information. Well just like with everything else when it comes to our children, we learned all we could about how to make our DD relationship work with kids in the house. 

One of the best ideas is to teach your children to respect you and your privacy. The bedroom belongs to mom and dad. They are not to just enter the room without permission. They really have no business being in your room at all. Now as babies, mine all slept with me or close by. But then we taught them to respect our privacy. This helps us by allowing us the freedom to talk or be alone or do adult activities with out worrying that there is a child going to barge in on us.

As our children got older the questions about sex and their bodies began. We have always been honest with them. We tried to only give them the information they could handle at the time. And we kept the conversation open and constant. I love my husband's description of two puzzle pieces fitting each other.

Now when we tell our children that mom and dad are going to spend some time in their room and don't disturb, I think that some of them have figured it out. They probably don't want to think about their parents having sex. I find it better that they know we love each other and that they can see that not only do we kiss and hug in front of them but that we still love each other in our private and intimate way. 

We take every precaution to make sure that they do not hear or witness any sort of discipline. If you think about it, everything you do, now that you have children, you have learned to do it with them in your life. If we happen to make a mistake and one of the kids catch us, what will we say? Well as with all of their other questions regarding sex and intimacy, we will tell them only what they need to know. I think as a parent, you have an intuition about how much to say.

• Just as you know when it is time to tell your child the truth about Santa.
• Just as you know when your three year old asks you where babies come from.
• Just as you know what your baby needs.
• Just as you know whether they are not telling the truth.
• Just as you know your child's voice and cry.

Parenting is not always fun and easy. And Domestic Discipline isn't always fun and easy. If you want to make it work, you will.

And if you ever have any questions about parenting, buy the Berenstain Bears books. You won't regret it. They are good for parents and the kids. We still talk about "gettin the gimmies" at the store, or how momma is not kidding around when she gets a bag for all the toys that aren't put away. Momma Bear is my role model.