MOPs

I'm hooked. I went to my first meeting last night and had a blast! Our speaker gave awesome ideas on how to instill trust and giving in our children. I'm planning on putting them into action. She had 3 boxes, each with a different label. The smallest box was labeled "Quiet Time." The 2 bigger boxes were labeled "Adventure Box" and "Blessing Box." The quiet time box is to start winding your child down for a nap/bed. It contained slips of paper with things like 'blow bubbles,' 'sing,' etc. The adventure box is for collecting 'treasures' while outside. You, as the parent, are to collect things and give them to your preschooler for safekeeping. When you go back inside, you put all those treasures in the box. The speaker said that this comes in handy when the child is throwing a tantrum. You can pull that box out and start looking through it and distract their attention from the tantrum to what you are doing. The blessing box is to be filled with things to give away. The child picks something out of the box to give guests in your home whether they are older guests or children. By doing this, your child learns that he/she doesn't always get a gift. They learn how to deal with that situation. She also talked about cooking with your children. Letting them help make a meal or dessert. I LOVE (most of the time) letting Andrew help me make cookies. In fact, the last time we baked, I let him help dump the flour and brown sugar in the bowl. He loves to help.

I will definitely be going back. I loved the craft and the fellowship. I loved the nuggets of wisdom that the speaker gave us. And the food was good, too!