today's lessons

Monet and I just finished our History lessons...sheesh, was that a chore. We talked about Self Government as it relates to our own lives and as was illustrated by Leif Erikson. It seems that Monet takes everything so personally. When I would talk about a person being self-governed in contrast to being disciplined or governed externally, he would say, "Stop talking about me!" Is that a guilty conscience??? I finally had to say, "LOOK! You can choose to be the kind of person people like or the kind of person people don't like. Which one do you want to be? You can be the kind of person that makes people angry, or the kind that makes people happy. Which would you like to be? If you are self-governed, you get priviliges. You get special treatment. You get promotions. If you have to be governed by someone else, you may be demoted, punished, or simply overlooked. Which do you want to be? Self-governed or governed by someone else?" He said self-governed. Since the discussion, he's been saying things like, "I'm going to put this away. That's being self-governed." I guess sometimes the behavior just needs to be given a name in order for a child to accomplish it.