Journal Date: November 20, 2011
From July until now, I continuously bring with me my toddler in going to church. For the first time in four month we have completed a mass without difficulty. No more attempts to go to another chair. No more attempts to go out and most of all, no more running after her. She just sat beside me playing with her bag. She stands, sings with me. She also prays with me. I have made a prayer for her. She prays it every night and every Sunday in the church.
Patience really is a virtue. Parents need a lot of patient to continuously improve the behavior of a hyperactive child. The key is the gradual changes of their routine. If you have read my Sunday journals, we have started with three minutes sitting time. My child gradually adjusted. I have been using reinforcements to encourage my child to improve more. My primary reinforcement was the food that we bring every Sunday but after two month I stop bringing food to church as advised by her occupational therapist. My secondary reinforcement was a lot of kisses and hugs every Sunday. I showed to her that Mommy is very happy when she behaves inside the church.
It was not as easy as it sounds. You can see in my previous journals that there are Sundays when I felt disappointed because my child seems to go back to where we started. Nevertheless, I just continued bringing her to church. Even three minutes improvement was something that I celebrated.
Until finally our hard work and patience has paid off. I gave her a lot of hugs. I even buy her favorite ice cream. I explained to her that Mommy bought her ice cream because she was a good girl in the church. If you are a mom who struggles to make your child sit for just five more minutes then I suggest that you read my previous articles: Hyperactive Behavior Improvement-Going to Church.
