Peaceful Parenting- Take 2

I have come to realize that with the Spring cleaning of my house also needs to come a Spring cleaning of myself. Lately I have let myself get too wound up, especially at bedtime, too quick to lose my patience, and definitely too quick to yell louder than is necessary. I haven't been keeping my cool or looking at the big picture when it comes to everyday stresses like trying to cook when the girls are bickering or getting AJ to bed with as little up/downs as possible.

So here are some changes I decided to make myself and the girls tonight:
1. No more yelling- well,as much as I can remember to... after all I am reforming here. =)
2. No more fighting about bedtime. We do the routine and instead of me going up and down while AJ stalls I will simply chill in the spare bedroom and read so I can deter any escape plans.
3. More smiles and less saying the word, "No".
4. No sitting on the computer while they watch their evening Avatar episode... I can't expect them to sit and relax if I am over here typing away and not relaxing with them.
5. Making a chore schedule and sticking to it so that I am not nagging at everyone allllll day long to help me clean and then getting upset when no one wants to. I am going to try Motivated Moms which seems to make a lot of sense as far as the cleaning schedule. (I just remove the Bible readings since we are not a Christian household) One of my friends sent it to me and I am wowed with the details!

Lucky for me too that there are tons of blogs out there that have great tools for moms like me who are trying to run herd on the kids all day, run a business, and keep the house from looking like squatters live there instead of a family. Many of them are on my sidebar- blogs like The Parenting Passageway, SouleMama, Simple Mom, and Our Suburban Homestead. Check them out and may your home be peaceful and full of sunny smiles too!