Our Family - 1989
(Before Hyrum was born - 3 years later)
Our daughter wrote this up for a major blog, today...and I thought I would share it with you...In raising our children, we had to find "wise" methods to handle 7-8 young children in church...Here is our daughter's side of it:
The Three Scoop Method ~ My Parenting Trick!
After reading my lovely post about our fist fighting in church experience on my blog, my mom commented that I should start instigating the "three scoop" method. What does that mean?
Well, here's the scoop. (Ha! "Scoop".... clever, I know)
Sugar was an oh-so-very-rare and highly precious commodity in our house when we were young kids. There were only two nights a week when after dinner treats were given.
Sunday and Monday nights. And honestly, half the time the "treat" was popcorn.
But Sundays seemed to be ice cream day. Now the "three scoops" refers to the three scoops of ice cream you got when my dad would dish up the bowls. We never got more than three. Three was the ultimate magic number one could aspire to.
Well, here's the scoop. (Ha! "Scoop".... clever, I know)
Sugar was an oh-so-very-rare and highly precious commodity in our house when we were young kids. There were only two nights a week when after dinner treats were given.
Sunday and Monday nights. And honestly, half the time the "treat" was popcorn.
But Sundays seemed to be ice cream day. Now the "three scoops" refers to the three scoops of ice cream you got when my dad would dish up the bowls. We never got more than three. Three was the ultimate magic number one could aspire to.
So this is how my parents used the magic number as a torture device...
If we started acting up in church, all my dad had to do, was lean towards us, and hold up three fingers.
Oh, believe me, we knew EXACTLY what that meant.
If that first warning was not enough and we continued to act up, he would then hold up three fingers and ever so torturously slow, so we didn't miss one horrible moment of it, he would lower one finger, indicating that we had just lost one of our coveted scoops of ice cream.
I can't even begin to explain the total devastation, as well as perfect behavior it got out of us.
I do remember just once, having lost all three of my scoops. I'm pretty sure I still have nightmares from that. For my parents never backed down, they never gave in with one of those weak, "okay fine, but next time, you really won't get them" things that you hope you're parents will say after you've been bad. Oh no! They were hard core and VERY consistent. We fully understood that my parents stuck by this rule.
I promise you I never lost all three of my scoops again, ever.
I'm a fast learner.
So if anyone in our congregation had the notion that we were just naturally reverent children, they would be sorely mistaken.
We were just trying hard to get our ice cream!~ Serene
If we started acting up in church, all my dad had to do, was lean towards us, and hold up three fingers.
Oh, believe me, we knew EXACTLY what that meant.
If that first warning was not enough and we continued to act up, he would then hold up three fingers and ever so torturously slow, so we didn't miss one horrible moment of it, he would lower one finger, indicating that we had just lost one of our coveted scoops of ice cream.
I can't even begin to explain the total devastation, as well as perfect behavior it got out of us.
I do remember just once, having lost all three of my scoops. I'm pretty sure I still have nightmares from that. For my parents never backed down, they never gave in with one of those weak, "okay fine, but next time, you really won't get them" things that you hope you're parents will say after you've been bad. Oh no! They were hard core and VERY consistent. We fully understood that my parents stuck by this rule.
I promise you I never lost all three of my scoops again, ever.
I'm a fast learner.
So if anyone in our congregation had the notion that we were just naturally reverent children, they would be sorely mistaken.
We were just trying hard to get our ice cream!~ Serene
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