Teasing

I had had ENOUGH!!! I felt like I've tried EVERYTHING I had ever heard of to help my son to STOP teasing. Desperately, I said a silent prayer as I once again sat my son down for a talk to somehow help him make better choices. I reminded myself and him how this was really just temporary and that I saw a glimpse of the son I know when he complimented his sister earlier that morning (literally the ONE nice thing he did that day!). Something HAD to change but HOW?

In answer to my prayer, I saw a picture of a hiker climbing a mountain flash into my mind. We talked about how we hiked the "Y" on the mountain behind Brigham Young University as a family. It's a pretty steep climb but he was able to make it to the top. I told him that changing a bad habit is like climbing a steep mountain. We decided we would make our own mountain and hiker to help my son overcome his bad habit of teasing and being unkind to his siblings.

We decided together that if he slips and makes a poor choice, his hiker will slip too. Immediately, my son named his hiker Adam because he said, "He is a son of God." He went on to explain that Adam represents him.

We've had a whole morning without teasing or fighting!!! That may not seem like a very long time to you but it is truly an accomplishment that we celebrated with a couple of steps up the mountain ; ) Now my daughter wants one...she's trying to think of something she needs to improve. I'll post a picture of it when our hiker reaches the top!