Anger Management

I think I am a pretty patient person. Maybe I am being a little vain, but I think if you asked those close to me, they would say that I am, for the most part, pretty patient. The other day, Joshua was really testing my patience. He was very whiny and seemed to say "no" to everything I asked him to do. I was getting frustrated and so was he. I sent him to his room and told him that if he was going to act tired, then he might as well go to bed. I was not going to listen to him anymore, I could feel myself losing my cool. So, off to bed he went, cheerfully... HAHA! Not really. Actually, off he went to his room dragging his feet on the floor as I hoisted him there by his wrist. I then tossed him onto his bed and closed the door just as he was running toward it. There was banging and crying. "I don't want to go to bed!" "Let me out of here!" My personal favorite was when he kicked the door and screamed, "I hate being in here, cuz I'm not tired!" Anyway, this went on for some time. Maybe five minutes, probably more like ten. It was obvious that it wasn't working. He wasn't calming down, and neither was I. Something had to change. The thought came to my head that every morning when I say my prayers, I always pray that the spirit would guide me in teaching and protecting my children. So, the thought then came to me that I ought to pray for some inspiration as to what I should do. Pray I did, and answers I did recieve. My mind recalled a story from the Friend that I and my children had read together a month or so ago. The story was about a dad who had lost his temper with his disobedient child. Time-out hadn't worked and the more frustrated the boy became, the more frustrated the father became. He then decided that he ought to pray alongside his son. He said that after completing the prayer, his son had calmed down, and he asked his father to help him know how to repent. Peace was brought back into their home, and father and son experienced a tender moment together. This all sounded good when I read it, but I never thought to do that with my children. We pray together, don't get me wrong, but I hadn't thought to pray with them when they were being naughty (for lack of a better term). I counted to ten, asked the Lord to be with me, then I opened Joshua's door (which sounds easier than it was, he had layed himself down in front of it and flexed his legs so that I couldn't open it). I feared the gnashing of teeth, but proceeded with confidence. :) I asked him to kneel down with me and that I wanted to pray with him. He was reluctant at first, but the tone in my voice had changed to be a little more "peace-offering"ish and so he gave in. I hugged him while I prayed and I made sure to thank Heavenly Father for sending Joshua to our family. I told Heavenly Father that I was thankful for Joshua and admired his easy-going personality and strong sense of responsibility with his siblings. I thanked Heavenly Father for the bond that Joshua and I shared and that I wanted Him to know how much I loved my son. Then, I prayed that Joshua and I could experience a change in our attitudes and the there might be peace in our home. After the prayer was over, Joshua and I hugged and it was like night and day. He was smiling and laughing. And, more importantly, this change continued throughout the remainder of the day..until dinnertime, but I'll take what I can get. It was a neat experience. I also remembered my mother in law telling about how she heard kids really liked looking at the Gospel Art Packet for scripture study. So, after we prayed, we went and looked through the Gospel Art Packet and I told them scripture stories. I think that my kids would have sat there longer and listened, because they were really enjoying it. I think we talked about at least ten pictures. This is our new form of scripture study as a family. Anyway, I just wanted to share that experience. It added to my own testimony of the power of prayer. Heavenly Father will help us lead his children in the paths that they should go.