I won some awards!

In the past 4 weeks, I am proud to say I won not 1, but 2 blog awards! I am quite pleased with this, and decided to pat myself on the back (which I did...literally). I won the "One Lovely Blog Award" which I mentioned in a previous post, and now I have been awarded the "Versatile Blogger Award" now from my friend over at 7 Kids and Counting (7 kids- that's right! She should be receiving all the awards!).

Thus, in keeping in line with how these things are done, I am passing the One Lovely Blog award on today, and I will pass the Versatile Blogger award on in a future post. Thanks again, ladies!

One Lovely Blog Award

This award is personal and only given to a few bloggers,

to encourage each other to keep up the good work!

The three guidelines:

1) Thank the person who nominated you

2) Nominate your favorite blogs and notify them

3) Share a few things about yourself

Thank you so much Tess at In Love by the Beach!

I love your blog and appreciate you thinking of me!

Here are the blogs I'm passing this wonderful award on to:

A Happy Mum

Me As A Mother

Becoming Super Mommy

Quick and Easy, Cheap and Healthy

7 Kids and Counting

It was very difficult to choose just 5, which is why it took me a few weeks to pass it on! I had to reevaluate my reading list and be sure to give this award to the top 5 I felt were most deserving. I truly visit these blogs at least once a week (it would be more, but who has the time?!), and I feel they have a lot to offer and are truly *lovely* But, no worries to the rest of you who did not receive this award! The Versatile Blogger award gets divvied out to 15 different blogs! Now I really have my work cut out!!

OK, now the fun part...

A few things about me you may not already know:

1) When I was younger, I was really into art, and even won several awards for my creations. I wish I had more time now to spend on such things, and hope to find time to pursue it more in the future.

2) I'm known to most of my friends as "the blunt one", meaning you know I will tell you the truth, and I won't sugar-coat it! Come to me whenever you need honest advice!

3) I am a total chocoholic. Yeah, I know...aren't we all? But, seriously, I need to eat chocolate every day like it's a genuine addiction! My dear husband has taken many trips to the local Rite Aid to grab me a Milky Way Midnight bar or bar of Lindt Dark Chocolate.

Now, all this award stuff got me thinking about how I use rewards often to appease my soon-to-be-two toddler, who is becoming increasingly stubborn and willful. I try to use this tactic of "if you do what I'm asking you to do, I will give you a sticker/treat/new book/etc" as little as possible, but I often wonder if I should be doing it at all. Isn't it more important to just raise children to simply obey for their greater good, whether they realize that is the reason or not? And most do not realize that there is a reason why they shouldn't walk into the middle of the street without a parent, or they shouldn't dump all their toys all over the middle of the floor for others (and themself) to trip on, or why it isn't nice to smack Mommy in the face when you're being pissy (No, just me? God, I hope not...). Not that I would reward Lily for NOT smacking me in the face, these are just some examples...

It works for puppies, right?

But, this is how they learn- by their parent(s) or guardian(s) teaching them. But, does it matter how we teach them? After all, animals are trained to do tricks and obey with the anticipation of receiving some kind of treat after they complete the task. Not that I'm comparing children to animals...well, maybe just a little, but what I mean is it works in the animal kingdom, and are we really so separate from them? Or am I just reading too deeply into this as I tend to do?

But I gave you stickers!

I've had plenty of people tell me it's quite alright to use rewards when you want to get your child to do something, as long as you don't over-do it and utilize the tactic at a responsible transgression. It's also ok if you generally reward the child with things that are considered good for them, like a healthy snack, book, or trip to museum. At this time that is how I generally feel about it, but I want to know what you think. Please tell me how you handle teaching your child good behavior and obedience in the comments, or link a blog post you wrote about it. Thanks!