{"id":4811,"date":"2012-06-26T18:05:53","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T18:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riverdogprints.com\/blog\/?p=4811"},"modified":"2015-03-08T16:02:12","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T16:02:12","slug":"life-with-boys-simple-instructions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/life-with-boys-simple-instructions\/","title":{"rendered":"Life With Boys :: Simple Instructions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/life-with-boys-new1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"life-with-boys-new\" width=\"575\" height=\"351\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4813\" \/><br \/>\nTeaching is a big part of being a parent.  At times, it&#8217;s effortless.  A question is asked or a situation arises and a teaching moment happens that is meaningful for both you and your child.<\/p>\n<p>[insert sound of squealing brakes]<\/p>\n<p>The reality of teaching my boys certain behaviors requires repetition.  Repetition to the point of insanity.  One particular behavior drives up my blood pressure like no other&#8230; pee on the seat.<\/p>\n<p>[insert image of messy commode]<\/p>\n<p>For better or worse, I am the major caretaker of our home.  I don&#8217;t like cleaning things, but understand the necessity and the inner peace that comes with a tidy abode.<\/p>\n<p>I have not counted how many times I&#8217;ve corrected this lazy and disrespectful act of boyhood, but it&#8217;s a boatload. Plus, when the boys close the bathroom door, all weirdness can ensue. (See <a href=\"http:\/\/riverdogprints.com\/journal\/om-cat-door\/\" target=\"_blank\">OM :: The Cat Door<\/a>)  Over the weekend, I had reached my limit and had to insert my husband between me and the six-year-old to save him from my wrath.  This was hubby&#8217;s training tactic:<br \/>\n<center><a href=\"http:\/\/instagr.am\/p\/MWHcuBMG5S\/\" target=\"_blank\"><a href=\"http:\/\/instagr.am\/p\/MWHcuBMG5S\/\">http:\/\/instagr.am\/p\/MWHcuBMG5S\/<\/a><\/a><\/center><br \/>\nI don&#8217;t know how effective a note over the toilet will be, but I&#8217;ve already heard one of the boys remark, &#8220;Oh yeah! I forgot about the note until just now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>[insert sound of flushing toilet, and later, a mother&#8217;s groan of defeat]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teaching is a big part of being a parent. At times, it&#8217;s effortless. A question is asked or a situation arises and a teaching moment happens that is meaningful for both you and your child. [insert sound of squealing brakes] The reality of teaching my boys certain behaviors requires repetition. Repetition to the point of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-with-boys"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8950,"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions\/8950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/rdpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}