Quickly I'll Obey

In dealing with a very independent and busy 3 year old I have had to resort to various tactics in getting him to cooperate without me getting mad.  I was trying to put him in the car seat a few weeks ago and he was running around the garage and wouldn't get in the car.  Finally I started singing the song "Quickly I'll Obey".

When my mother calls me
Quickly I'll Obey
I want to do just what is best.
Each and every day.

He jumped right in the car and got in his seat and after I buckled him in we were off!  What an epiphany!

I had been praying for a few days about what to do to get CAYDEN to obey.  Sometimes that kid has serious selective hearing and I sound like a broken record all day long trying to get him to do something.  So as I sang that to Kyle I wondered silently if that was my answer for Cayden.  Well after school I tried it and it worked marvelously!  He was a little slow at first to catch on but like usual I would ask him to do something.  Then if he didn't respond right away I would just sing "quickly I'll obey".  After 2-3 times of me repeating that song and not repeating my request he caught on and went and did what I had asked.  It's not like I'm asking him to do anything hard just the usual tasks that need to be done: put away his backpack, take off his shoes, practice his piano etc.  I kept doing that for a few days and he was very compliant.  By about day 3 the novelty had worn off for Cayden anyway and he just went back to selective hearing.  I swear with that kid I have to mix it up.  So other days we resorted to checklists so I wasn't a broken record and on some other days it came down to outright bribery.

Kyle on the other hand still likes it and will obey a little quicker when I sing the song.  He especially likes to "obey" when I say "go get on the bed so we can change you".  He will run to the bedroom, climb up on the bed and lay down and say "I obeyed!"  He really is a pretty compliant child most of the time.  When I sing the song to him it's because he is running around and trying to get away from me not necessarily being deliberately disobedient.

I know that Heavenly Father will answer our prayers even for things like this if we ask him.  I write this down so on those days-like today when I am wondering if my prayers get answered I can read this and remember that they do.