How I got rid of whining in my house

There is nothing more irritating then the sound of a whining child. It is like fingernails scraping a chalkboard or metal scraping metal! So after the past 3 years of enduring endless whining I finally figured out something that worked. We tried the whole ignoring thing. We even told our children that we don't speak whinese so we don't understand what they are saying. Nothing worked until they were old enough to have currency. So here it is......every time my whiny child is whining it is because he wants some special treat: chocolate milk, candy, etc. These things are not normally in my house so he is whining for us to leave the house to get them. If we do leave the house to run errands we are guaranteed for the whining to begin because he wants us to stop somewhere and buy him something to satisfy his sweet tooth. I finally said to him, "You know, I may be more inclined to say yes if you asked me in a normal voice instead of whining all of the time." Then I gave him a few ideas of different ways to ask. IT WORKED! He is now correcting himself if he starts whining and starts over and asks nicely. And yes, I bought him the chocolate milk which is a huge treat in our house. For the record, I have never given into his whining, but he is persistent and all it took was one person giving into him (Nana) and he believed he had a shot with anyone.

I read this recently and I really liked it...."Having children is like being pecked to death by chickens." The demands they have on us to meet their needs and their wants never end, but that is why we need the Lord. He is the only one who can sustain us and help us to endure the pecking. If we are not abiding in Christ it makes it so much harder than it has to be. So when I start feeling like I am being pecked to death I know that I need to get in the Word of God and get refreshed.

SIDE NOTE: I don't know if I wrote this down a couple of weeks ago so I just want to write it down so I have it on record. We were eating dinner and Grant decided that the green beans didn't go with his pasta and he said he wasn't going to eat them (he loves green beans so this was weird to hear). Eric said, "Well, if you don't eat your green beans then you will shrivel up like a raisin." Eli piped in and said, "Yeah, and then you could end up in a bag and someone could eat you!" Gotta love little brothers! (Grant ate his green beans)