Partners Night Out

Alittle explaination since alot of people have been asking us to explain when we say "Partners"

A few months ago I read this amazing book

 photo source

Mike and I are the first to tell anyone we have no clue how to be GOOD parents. We were blessed to be parents of 4 amazing but very different children. And no manuals were given out to us on day of birth so we read everything. And in my opinion anyone can be a  "good-enough" parent. But we want something more for our family. So we read books and articles, talk to friends and family, listen to books on disc, and pray ALOT for ways to improve our parenting. Most books have been helpful even in the smallest ways. 

However this book was amazing. It gave so many wonderful tips and really helped us focus more on Heavenly Father type parenting. A few things for example were instead of a time-out bench we call it ''The Repentance Bench". So not only is it used for  someones individual purpose but also those who argue. They'll sit, talk it out, and ask for forgiveness for their actions. 

Another amazing idea was partnering up kids. We have the right amount of kids and age differences for this to work properly. Mason & Lily and Hailey & Ducati are partners. The older ones help the younger ones. They help their partner brush their teeth. Not literally brush their teeth but help putting on the water, watching to make sure the toothpaste doesn't magically get poured onto the mirror, or etc. Mason and Hailey will practice their reading skills by reading a story to their partners. They'll hold hands to cross the street or in a store. While at the park they include them in their games....the list goes on and on. And it's absolutely amazing to see the bond between siblings change for the positive. They have learned to trust each other, learn from each other, be more kind to one another, and so much more. Mike and I really like how this is playing out. 

And in the book the parents call their older kids "tutors"....we call ours "partners". Anyways they took their tutors out once a month to help celebrate their hard-work and helpfulness. That's what we did tonight. Lily and Ducati went to a friend's house to play for an hour while we went out with Hailey and Mason.

While eating an ice cream cone we talked with them about some of the rewards and struggles they are having. However much to our surprise they were enjoying being partners. Hailey liked knowing how and who to help. Mason liked teaching Lily all about dinosaurs. They expressed some things they would like help with. For example,for Mike and I to support their partnerships by reminding Lily and Cati to listen to their partners. Easy enough.

These kiddos are so wonderful!  After we finished our cones we headed to a park to play for a while.

Right when I was telling Hailey to be careful climbing on top of the slide I see Mike doing the same thing.  I guess she learns alot from him.
                             

Hailey must be exhausted from playing....haha..she's so funny. It was such a great night.