Couch Time

I have tried to find a good definition of this online. But I was unhappy with many of the explanations as they were either very against the Ezzos or it was just explaining how wonderful it is but without an explanation.
Here is a simplistic explanation.
The objective of Couch Time is for your child/children to see the important of their parents marriage. It is also an opportunity for parents to spend some quality time together.
The Ezzos mention that couch time is done when the father gets home from work but in honesty this just wouldn't work for us as when Gorgeous Husband gets home from work he is ready for dinner as it is late and not long after that it is time for the girls bed. We figure that getting some couch time on the nights he is early or on the weekends is good because we can only do our best.
Some may wonder why not just have this time once the children have gone to bed but it is important for your children to witness that mum has put aside her work and Dad has put aside his work and that they are going to spend time with each other.
Some regulations that Ezzo puts on couch time is that
1. It is not time to discuss bad things that children have done through the day- children are in earshot and they don't need to think it is the time of day where mum and dad get together to complain about them.
2. Children are meant to be able to be/play by themselves and not interrupt this special time, except in an emergency.


3. Do not discuss topics that is going to cause a great deal of conflict.



The Ezzo put an importance on couch time because they also feel it is important that children do not grow up in a child focused family. Children are a part of the family not the focus of it. Children that grow up in child focused families have trouble coping in the adult world when employers, friends and teachers do not act like they are the 'cleverest boy in the whole wide world'.

Set an Example

"We can say no to our children's frivolous requests. We can explain our reasons. We can pontificate about the evils of materialism. We can discuss the difference between a "need" and a "want"...But we'll never truly convince them to be content with what they have unless we're willing to practice what we preach..."
1. Focus on things that have eternal value rather than fleeting attraction. Hebrews 13:5 tells us to keep our lives free from the love of money and be content with what we have because God has promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
2.Give to others who are in need.
3. Take care of what you have. Practice good stewardship of the nice things we have been given.
Begin by making the the right choice for yourself. Your kids are watching. Live the life you want them to emulate.
This post has been taken from Happily Ever After and 21 other myths about family life
Karen Scalf Linamen

Being in the world but not of the world

How do we keep our children PURE and yet let them have friends.
The other day we were at the park and there was a bunch of children, obviously from a local football team having a bbq together. Watching the children I noticed that they were separated into different groups. One lot of boys were off playing football together, another group were playing on the playground equipment and another pair of boys would sulk along on the edge of the largest group in the playground. A few incidents happened that left me feeling a little deflated.
1. The two boys when they thought I couldn't hear them were teasing my two year old daughter about her t-shirt that said "I love Dad". Maybe they were uncomfortable that she was staring at them to get them to get off the swings so she could have a go but I just didn't get how children could pick on a child so much younger then themselves.

2. The group playing on the playground equipment were playing a rough game and one boy got injured. I had no idea as to which child was responsible but what was crazy was that about 4 or 5 boys just up and ran away saying 'it wasn't me, I'm getting out of here'. One girl offered him a free ride next turn but it was strange that no one seemed to comfort him.

I know that there is a lot of personal history and reasons as to why each of these children acted the way they did but it certainly shocked me and made me wonder how are my daughters going to be behaving in another 5-9 years on. How will they treat people?
It is never to early to teach children about being loving to all of God's creation and it is never too late to teach children that they are apart of God's creation and that they need to act accordingly.

Teaching new things

I was thinking about what and how I went about teaching my daughter new things. It always excites me when I see someone teaching their child about a new thing or new skill. This is a list and an order of things that I used when teaching my daughter. It did help that she was talking reasonably early so I was encouraged when I was getting feedback.

1. Animals- simply that a cow it says moo

2. Foods, Clothing, everyday items.

3.Colours- Lots of questions and statements. E.g Look at the beautiful blue sky. Next day Look at the beautiful sky, what colour is the sky?

4. Shapes- Squares, triangles, circles, diamonds, rectangles, hearts, stars, oval(egg), crescents (moon) I would sit down with her and draw them a lot.

5. Counting. We didn't really deal with what numerals looked like at this stage but I would imagine some children could pick it up now.

6. Singing- Mostly nursery rhymes this lead to abc song. We started off with shorter songs. Twinkle Twinkle was first, then ba ba. I would just keep singing them and singing them to her and then one day she would just start singing them along with me and then she would tell me to stop as she wanted to sing them for herself. I mostly found that singing was a great way to improve memory and speech.


7. This is where we are at now and it is drawing. We are trying to draw different shapes such a squares and circles and triangles. We use them to draw faces e.g

8. Next using the knowledge of drawing lines and circles we will start trying to recognise and then draw letters and then numerals.

This has been my current plan but I am sure I have left out a lot. Any other ideas as to what you have used would be greatly appreciated.

This is only an academic side of things which I suppose is more what I understand. I do know one sticks to their strengths but it means we often miss things like the physical, the mechanical, the imagination and lots of other things. It is certainly hard to get out of our own comfort zones to encourage our kids in all areas of life. Who knows maybe we will find out that things we didn't like as children might be more fun as an adult. Watch out Monkey Bars.

If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others.
Haim Ginott


Can you just imagine the child just out of shot.
Mother: Well Mrs Willis, I can not tell you how much I appreciate (insert name) he was such a help to me this morning. He put his own dishes into the dishwasher this morning. He is growing to be such a big help to me.

One aside, I have also heard a very similar quote but it replaces children with husbands.

Why yes its another blog

This blog is to be dedicated to raising and enjoying my children.
Some posts will be about great new games we have learnt or craft or fun activities we can play with our children.
Some posts will be information that has struck or provoked a thought about raising my children. After all how can I enjoy my children if I don't raise them to be enjoyable, both to myself as well as others.
And some posts make be a simple thought for the day, maybe a quote or a bible verse about children and their training.
I do not hold to any particular author, child educator, or teacher so please bear that in mind for when I use a quote from someone it does NOT mean that I agree or esteem their opinions. I will be taking each particular quote for face value.

All that being said I would love for you to share some ideas about how you enjoy your children too.