Teaching puppies (children) to behave.

I love days when it all comes together, these kinds of days haven't happened for such a long time and I've missed them. Dinner cooked by middle MM and dishwasher stacked by youngest MM. Food on the table and eaten before 7pm. Hubby back in bed for a nap before he starts night shift tonight and me curled up on the lounge reading and writing. Eldest MM also started his new job today and things finally seem to be coming together for him. Love it when the good fairies visit my house and take over my children's minds. It sure makes my life a hell of a lot easier.
 
I read a post by Carol a new mum writer for World Moms Blogs tonight where she talks about parenting and combining the principles for dog training - she says 'When I’m not sure about what to do in a particular parenting situation, I tend to resort to “what would I do if this were a dog.” Which means that I treat my baby like a puppy at points. That seems to amuse people. So far, it’s working'

Compare a dog to a boy. They scratch, they fart and they eat anything in sight. They are affectionate, loyal and loving and give you lots of love. They walk around with their tail between their legs when they've been bad and they like peeing on things. Same, same but different.

The priniciples that Carol talks about seemed to make sense to me, same principles, just a different species. There is the problem that I'm faced with which is that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, being that my children are now teenagers, but surely I can work on that. But look at the principles for training a puppy below which is from this website and if you replace the word 'puppy or dog' with 'baby, child or children' and then you tell me where the difference is?

How To Train A Puppy (Child) - The Positive Non Violent Way
 
It's important with all dog (child) training but especially with young puppies (children) to use lots of encouragement, praise and rewards (positive reinforcement) in your training. Start your puppy (baby) training sessions as soon as your little puppy (baby) arrives at your home - it's never too early. Set your puppy (child) up to succeed, concentrate on developing desirable habits in your puppy (child) and preventing undesirable behavior. It's much a better alternative to put your puppy (child) on the right path from the start, rather than trying to correct established problem behaviors later on.

Keep your training sessions short, consistent and always have fun. The key to shaping your puppy's (child's) behavior is to start out with very easy commands, continue to build on these successes and apply heaps of repetition. Base your puppy (child)  training sessions around trust and mutual respect rather than old school methods based on punishment, avoidance and harsh corrections. In this environment you will find that your puppy (child) loves his training sessions and his confidence will grow with each and every session.

So now I just need to find the principles for teaching my old dog (children) new tricks and life will be infinitely easier. If all else fails maybe I can buy a kennel and chuck them outside in that when they are being bad puppies (I mean children) I'm also sure if I whistled them they'd probably come sooner than when I call them, unfortunately I can't whistle - sigh.

I think I need to go and do some more research on this subject, have a great night / day.

Cheers, Fi

The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery. ~ Plato