Lynn's Comments: One morning, my young daughter, Katie, was tallying up all the things around her that were "hers." I was very happy to be one of them!
Lynn's Comments: We have always enjoyed going out to eat as a family. Getting there wasn’t always easy. When the kids were tiny, we would remove them from the restaurant as soon as they started to fuss. One of us would go out and stay in the car with the fuss-budget until there was calm. This meant many interruptions, leaving a meal to get cold, and sitting in a car with an unruly kid. Eventually, we were all able to go out—to any restaurant, anywhere—and know that our kids would not cause a scene or get too out of hand. Whenever we see families with disruptive kids causing everyone in a restaurant to clench their teeth, we know there is a solution to the problem. It takes a walk out to the car and a few minutes of downtime. It works!
Lynn's Comments: This was a regular occurrence as the renovations continued on our house. Early morning was the worst time as the crew would show up before 8am, and we lived in the woods…which meant few curtains.
Lynn's Comments: In the dental clinic, a kid would often cause a real row—crying and carrying on. If the mom went down the street to have a coffee, the kid would immediately settle down knowing that mom was out of earshot.