Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pesticide

Pesticide-A chemical used to kill pests, especially insects.

My blog friend sire has seemingly stumbled upon this little gardening experiment of a blog I’ve got going. He asked in my last post if I had done anything on "pesticide". I left a link to a post I’d done on pests. In that post, I sort of left off at "pesticide", leaving that up to each family and each situation.

I do believe that there are many different forms of "pest control" that parents can and should utilize. I do not think that any one form will work for every child at every age in every situation. I like to try to stay creative and vary my ways of controlling the pests that can invade our children’s lives. It seems that as they grow, the best forms of pesticide in their lives also change. Sitting in "time out" is not going to do much for our 15 year old (although grounding is really a form of extended time out, I suppose.)

Though there are times when I may consider just wringing the necks of my children and the pests that invade their lives, it is not always feasible, nor would it really serve any good purpose! I recently left a comment on a cyber-friend’s blog (who claims to be better than supernanny!) that I feel like prevention is always the best medicine.

Foreseeing a problem and set up ways and guidelines to prevent the pests from ever entering in the first place seems to be the smartest and easiest pesticide to implement. For my young kids and nephews, I use creative pesticides like sitting in chair position against a wall, holding a large dictionary in outstretched arms, groundings, mouth washings, sentences, and "over-correcting". But these do not truly seem to be pesticides, as I do not think they will ultimately change a child’s heart, even if they do change a behavior.

It occurs to me that the ultimate pesticide is within the child himself. It starts while they are very young and goes on into adulthood. It is up to the parent to instill values and integrity in the child. They must teach and inspire self-discipline in the child. When the child begins to be devoured by pests, it will eventually be up to him to remove them himself. It will take years of loving, patient practice and internalizing for this to truly take effect. As for me, the verdict is still out. But I am holding onto the key ultimate pest control as being self-discipline.
Posted by sowingseeds at 15:39:31 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |
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1 - But what of those human pests that invade kids throughout their life in the form of peer pressure or even the unwanted unloved 'bad crowd' they may get mixed up with? Would one recommend the baseball bat or perhaps a little grounding? (Comment this)

Written by: Sire at 2008/02/27 - 16:55:33
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2 - baseball bats, maybe, I'd rather just wring their necks! really, though, I've been thinking about what you said. when the kids were young, we did use periods of separation from friends when necessary, and I would not/do not hesitate to do so even now. but ultimately, isn't it up to them to make the right choices, even in the face of the peer pressure. I still think self-discipline is going to be the final key in the end. (course, we're not there yet, so...)

 (Comment this)

Written by: sowingseeds at 2008/02/27 - 23:01:08
3 - I whole heartedly agree with your last paragraph. Very well put! (Comment this)

Written by: Terry at 2008/03/05 - 22:03:10
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4 - thanks Terry. I do think this is a key concept. I just hope I'm on the right track here!! It helps hearing from folks who've gone ahead of me in this area. always appreciate your comments... (Comment this)

Written by: sowingseeds at 2008/03/05 - 22:34:24
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