I’ve been giggling lately about the differences in Matt’s and my parenting techniques.  Not the important parenting techniques that are intended to mold our kids and help them grow into the people that God wants them to be.  We are pretty similar in those areas.

No, I’m referring to the following area:  What are the important things to teach our kids to make them more hilarious or more socially impressive?  We approach this from very different directions.

Matt teaches them functional, useful things to help them demonstrate their cuteness.  He taught them to shake hands and say, “Nice to meet you!”  We get a lot of mileage out of that one… it goes over well every time they do it!  I defy you to shake hands with one of my children, hear them say “ny-so-MEE-sue!” and not smile ear to ear!  Matt has also been working with them on counting and number identification and they are picking it up quickly!  Just yesterday, we were waiting for an elevator and Zach saw that it had stopped on floor 7.  “Seben!!!” he bellowed.  I looked up, saw the number 7 and was shocked… how did he know?  That’s the magic of Matt’s parenting skills!

My favorite new skill that Matt has been working on with the twoddlers is putting things away.  He sits with them in their playroom and makes a game out of cleaning up.  Somehow, when I try to make a game out of cleaning up, they see right through it!  They sing the “clean up!” song with me, but I mostly do everything.  But Matt!  He doesn’t even need the “clean up!” song and has those kids scurrying around to show him how quickly and efficiently they can tidy the playroom.  It’s really amazing.

Summary:  Matt is a bevy of useful information and he continually imparts it to our children for their own benefit and improved skill set.

Now, let me reveal the sorts of things I teach our kids.  I could care less about function!  I teach them things that I think are funny or helpful to me. 🙂  After changing a poopy diaper only to discover that they weren’t finished pooping, I made up a little song that we have been using, “All done making poopies!  All done making poopies!”  I leave out words and they fill them in with their adorable little singing voices.  It is super cute.  I also taught them to squeal certain words.  One time, I said, “Massew!!!” to call to Matt across the house.  Ever since, the twoddlers have been squealing “Massew!” and then laughing uproariously.  Ahh, it is so hilarious.  We all have a good laugh… all of us except Matt!  He isn’t sure why his name is so funny.  I don’t even think they know it is his name, it is just fun to say!

My favorite new thing that I taught them is to zerberk Daddy’s tummy.  Not a functional skill, but hilariously funny to me!  As a result, they love to be zerberked as well.  I love when they say “ahmpit!!!” and hold up their arm so I can zerberk them.  It’s an extra ticklish spot and they love it!

I assume I am teaching them important concepts too and that my parenting isn’t all spent on cheap thrills.  But the part that is spent on cheap thrills?  Yeah, it’s pretty thrilling.  Totally worth it.