Teaching Self Government

I love children. They each challenge me in a different way. It seems Daniel is determined to make me a better parent. Steven just goes with the flow. Isaac is so undemanding (unless you fail to prepare him for a change, but that is rare). But Daniel really likes to push buttons. He must enjoy the power he can have over people. For about a year, I have known that I need to find a better way to parent him, or our lives would just be a series of futile power struggles which would just get worse. I think I could really ruin the kid if I do not start doing something differently.

I have pondered and prayed about this quite a bit. Last Spring I heard a talk given by Nicholeen Peck on teaching your children self government. She was the foster parent of many tough kids for several years. Today she parents her own children using the methods she learned as a foster parent. When she and her husband received training as foster parents they were taught parenting skills that were originally developed in Boys Town. Now I admit that the only reference I had to Boys Town was the movie with Spencer Tracy. He played a Father Flanagan who started a home for troubled youth.

Nicholeen has taken the lessons she learned and applied gospel principles. The one hour talk I heard was abridged from her 7 hour seminar. I knew I needed the whole thing so I finally gathered the money to get the seminar recordings. I have learned so much from her and what little I have been able to implement in our home, has already improved things for all of us and encouraged me to continue.

Last week, the Pecks were featured in one of Britain's reality shows called "The Worlds Strictest Parents." Here is the link to see the show. http://teachingselfgovernment.com/worlds-strictest-parents-video-part-1_482/ I have enjoyed reading her blog as she talks about all that happened that didn't make the final cut.

But it is not just about troubled kids; it is about changing hearts. Learning self government is about learning how to govern you own behavior, about finding a reason to change; not just power struggles. These are skills that many adults have never developed. In a nutshell I have learned how to set up a system of family government. This leaves me the ability to love, teach, and change hearts.