Learning By Watching

We've had a lot of rain this past week here in East Tennessee. We really needed the rain, but the downside was that the kids started getting "cabin fever" when it rained for a few days in a row. One afternoon, I decided to take them out to our awesome front porch to play during a thunderstorm. They loved the sound of the thunder and were being so cute, so I took out my trusty video camera and taped a little bit of their cuteness. What started out as cute turned into another "thunderstorm" of arguing on our front porch. I'm always on the lookout for creative ways to teach my children natural (logical) consequences (good and bad) to their actions. I just kept filming the situation while trying to correct them. Here's what I filmed (take note...Molly is dressed up in her new princess dress--what is on her head is her pink "hair")



I stopped filming and called them over to me to watch the video. Their little eyes were glued to the camera--watching intensely! I asked them if they were acting kind in the video or selfish. "SELFISH!" said a trio of tiny voices. I asked, "What does kindness look like? Can you show me?" So, they all ran back to their little "set" and I started filming again. Here's what I got:




Let me just say that this was a GREAT teaching tool!! I've been filming my kids in several situations since the porch scene and they've learned a lot. Sometimes it takes seeing our own foolishness before our eyes before we learn how foolish we are! Maybe I should have someone start following ME around with a video camera all day. :)