Erin-Compliment my family daily

I was so confident with my January goal. It only took a few days to realize that my February goal was going to be tougher. So, here's why I made adjustments and descriptions of the adjustments that I made.

1. If you're grouchy with your kids all day long and then at bedtime remember to give them a compliment, it's pretty outdone by the day of grouchiness.
2. I needed to find a way to be a more purposeful, positive mother throughout the day.

So, I thought I could do daily heart attacks (one heart a day). My oldest loved this and would check every day. But, trying to do it for each of them every day made it hard to not just compare and write similar compliments. Plus, my other son started ripping them down when he got mad (that happens a lot at my house). I got tired of recutting, rewriting and retaping. I didn't even get pictures before he had ripped all of his own and most of his brother's hearts. My girls aren't reading and so they didn't love them, either. So, I decided to try the rule of 3-1.

We have had lots of therapy and parenting classes in our nine years of being parents. We adopted our boys when they were four and two. We got our older daughter when she was only a month old. Our boys especially have had a lot of challenges. And our cute older daughter has a very big personality.  I don't say this so that you will feel bad for me but just know that everything we do is hard because our kids have challenging backgrounds. Our kids are really great and give a lot of effort to everything they do. WE are blessed to have them not the other way around. And, my youngest who happens to be biological has challenges with her speech and potty-training (she's 5). So, I know that my challenges with my kids aren't any harder than the challenges each of you has.

Back to the 3-1. Lots of experts say that you should give three positives to every negative. Every command, yell or negative comment takes at least three positives to balance out. So, I tried throughout the month to notice when things were getting negative and turn it around with positives right when it happened.

It all helped a little but it needs to be a long-term goal. Also, I don't know if I can measure results or if my kids were even any happier. However, it did really help me to focus on the positives. We fought long and hard for these kids that we have and I need to fight long and hard to show them how much I love and appreciate them. I think this goal of improving my relationship with my children will make it in throughout the year. Everything I do helps blesses each of us in our family.

During March, I tried to send my oldest texts that complimented him on something when I thought of it. Then, he gets surprised with the compliments. I don't even know if he notices but it gives me the chance to give him some positive feedback when his life is filled with lots of negatives. I have tried to keep up the positives but I have not been as consistent as February.

And on to March & April. March was all about organizing. But, my goal for April is to pamper myself and go on a girls trip. But, I'm also planning to work on my relationships with my kids even more. That's like pampering myself and blessing my life by blessing theirs.

I hate pictures of myself but I think it's great when you put pictures on here. Then, I can picture you as I'm reading your posts. So, here's my family picture from last summer. I tried to take a little selfie but it's late and it just really wasn't good. I must practice my selfie skills and show you just how fabulous I am.