I Do.

Wow, time flies.  I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I wrote that post.  We're now into our third week of school and I have some advice in response to my last request for advice.

I realized, at the start of her second week of school, that Keara had switched from being truly nervous, to enjoying the attention she was receiving by not liking school, by clinging, and by crying.  She got sympathy from everyone...me, Braden, her teachers, her grandmas, everyone.  And we were talking about it with everyone, seeking advice. 

But when I stopped and paid attention to the whole picture, I realized that the sympathy and attention was actually perpetuating the problem.  So we flipped a switch and overnight, the problem changed.  That's not to say it went away, but immediately, we had less whining, less clinging, less crying.  She's gone 4 days of no tears at all and comes home much happier and excited about school.  The mornings aren't spent telling us that she doesn't want to go, but talking about what is going on that day.

What did we do?  We stopped paying attention to her complaints.  When she would say, "I don't want to go to school," we'd reply with "We understand.  Please get in the shower (or get dressed, or go to bed, or eat your breakfast, or whatever)."  We didn't dwell on the complaint.  And we explained to her teacher what we were doing and she jumped on board, not dwelling on Keara's crying, but moving on to the next thing. 

I didn't want Keara to think we didn't care, so we switched to focusing on the positive, like when she is happy, when she goes to school easily, when she has a great day.  Or simply on the great parts of school instead of the bad parts.  Once we took the wind out of her sails, per say, she started gliding and doing so much better. 

I'm grateful for inspiration and a Father in Heaven who not only loves me, but loves my daughter and inspires me and Braden on how to raise her best.  This advice has been extremely helpful.