About

Honey From Flinty Rocks is the journey of one woman who is a first generation Christian, recovering feminist, the help-meet to “The Patriarch”,  home schooling (home-discipleship) mother to one “Arrow” & 4 adult children (Floppsy, Mopsy, Peter & Cottontail); who loves to cook, bake, read, sew, crochet, make soap, take pictures, scrapbook,  paint & draw, write, play the piano, listen to classical music (mostly classical & baroque era) and spend time with my family.

I am interested also in politics, history, nature, preparedness,  herbs, essential oils & homeopathic medicine.

I am a self-diagnosed celiac as of March 2010 who is learning to cook and bake gluten free AND please my rather particular family.

Honey From Flinty Rocks is staunchly pro-life, from a Reformed Baptist perspective, and no longer duped by feminism!  I desire to live a life that glorifies God and pray that is reflected in this simple blog.

All content is the sole possession of Honey From Flinty Rocks.  Do not post, copy or use without proper credit given.

Blessings,   ~Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R)

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Laura March 5, 2011 at 3:21 AM

I was reading the blog “Raising Homemakers” and I read your post about teaching your son “Don’t touch”. I’m engaged and plan to be married with children soon. I’m trying to learn all I can about parenting methods, and ways to teach children how to behave. I’ve seen other children who are constantly told “Don’t touch” and they seem to have endless problems with obeying, much to the frustration of their mother. She spanks them when they seem particularly resistant to obedience. (They are 3 and 2.) I say this because I’m really not sure how to teach children “Don’t touch”. Some people say that expecting children younger than a certain age to remember the rules is unreasonable because 1 year olds and younger ones aren’t mentally capable of such things. Others say that once children get a bit older, expecting them to obey immediately every time is overly harsh and damaging to their spirits. Your story seems to indicate otherwise, and I would love to hear more if you have the time to share your knowledge. :-)

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~Mrs. R March 28, 2011 at 9:15 PM

Hello Laura,
Please forgive me for being SO tardy in responding to your inquiry!! It is not that I was avoiding answering so much as praying to make sure my response would lead toward Godly training. I can give you a brief answer here in the comments and then I am working on a longer response as a regular post. Of course the “best laid plans” are frequently redirected by the Lord… with Arrow being quite sick for this past week, and still not completely over it. And then, well, to be completely honest I am still “catching up” with the house after my broken arm! How sad is that? Life didn’t stop to give me a chance to ‘play catch up’ and when riding the roller coaster it’s really hard to… “play”… lol!

I am not going to address the child training philosophies you brought up in your comment, as that would make this an entire post, and a long one at that. But I can tell you briefly that Arrow is the only child we are raising as Christians. The other 4 were in various stages of early youth to young adults by the time the Lord saved us. And in order to address this in complete honesty I need to ‘bare my soul’ and wasn’t sure I was ready to do that. But here goes…

Arrow is our grandchild, the son of my daughter from my previous marriage. She also has an older brother. The other 2 children are twin girls from Patriarch’s previous marriage. Neither one of us were saved then, it was about 5 years after we were married that the Lord saved us. The Patriarch & I will be celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary this year. To make a long, traumatic, very eventful story very, very short, we now have full, sole decision-making custody of Arrow and have since 2005. All of ‘that story’ will have to wait for another day.

When Arrow was with us as a baby (but before we had full custody) I remember thinking about the various things I had done as a young mother that I didn’t think were very helpful. One was to completely childproof my home and remove any and all breakables & things I didn’t want the children to touch so that I didn’t have to say “no” all the time. I am not talking about keeping dangerous substances out of a child’s reach but everyday items that shouldn’t be touched by young children. Things like the stereo, stereo speakers, cell phone, glass top coffee and end tables, ceramic figurines, etc., that would be easily broken by a toddler who didn’t know better but were things all over my home! I got to thinking that there were many things that the Lord has told me are completely off limits to me as his child. Was I doing the right thing my training a child to believe there was nothing off limits in his limited sphere of life? Wouldn’t that lead to further trouble down the road? That was definitely our experience with the other four children and what results I see in other children who have been trained with the same humanistic child training methodologies.

This tip I learned from a woman at my previous church. She talked about teaching each of her children to “leave it alone”. She said once her child was crawling she would set some object that was off limits to him on the coffee table and she would stay near by. As he came and tried to touch it she would say in a firm, calm, quiet voice, “leave it alone” and move his hand away. When he reached for it again she would repeat the command in the same way but this time slap his hand. This was repeated until he no longer tired to touch the object. The slap needed to be firm enough to ‘get his attention’, not a tiny tap. The training could be further instilled by walking out of the room, but in a way that you can still see him. If he tried to reach for it thinking it was alright because you were out of the room, you would be close enough to make sure he learned that your command was to be obeyed whether you were near by or not.

You can think of it like this. If you are visiting the home of some friends who’s children are older, there could very well be things left out that pose a danger for your baby (a cup of hot coffee, scissors, knitting needles, etc). By having learned to “leave it alone” at an early age, you can help ensure he is not harmed by telling him to leave it alone and he will! Not everything baby picks up is safe for him to put in his mouth, but he will put everything in his mouth unless told not to.

I hope this brief answer helps answer your question! Look for a longer post on child training in the near future!
Blessings,
~Mrs. R

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Laura March 28, 2011 at 10:11 PM

Thank you so much for your response! It’s very encouraging to read these things and hear advice who have seen results in their own children! Through a series of blog-hopping expeditions, I found a website, “Raising Godly Tomatoes”, (raisinggodlytomatoes.com) within a day or two of posting my comment. It contains much of the same kind of thing you just shared here. I’ve been reading through it ever since (It’s a TON of information.) Your response confirms everything I’ve been reading on it. It’s wonderful to get the step-by-step information. I was not raised this way AT ALL. I was allowed to do lots of horrendous things as a child, I was often left unsupervised, etc. So I’m trying to learn all this stuff from scratch. I totally appreciate your help, and thanks!

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~Mrs. R March 29, 2011 at 9:31 AM

Hello Laura,
I too was raised WITHOUT any of these ideas being used for my training. And trying to learn all this AND apply it at the same time is not the easiest route to be sure! I commend you on finding answers before you have your first child. Being left unsupervised only allowed me to get into lots of trouble, the consequences of which plague me even today. Yes I am forgiven but forgiveness doesn’t erase the consequences.

Yes, the “Raising Godly Tomatoes” is one of the places I was going to recommend in my post! Here are another outstanding resource that I highly recommend:
Family Discipleship Ministries
Check out the article on getting a child to keep still! It is a TREASURE! They also have a terrific DVD set called, “Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World”. Last time I checked it was a very reasonable $40. They don’t have an online store set up yet, but I know they will get back to you quickly if you email them!

Blessings,
~Mrs. R

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Laura March 30, 2011 at 2:26 AM

I found the DVD set. It’s now in my wish list! I linked the article on my Facebook page. My friends need to hear about this stuff!
I was looking for wisdom and answers, and God answered. How amazing is that! I love children, and I always have, but for a long time, I was discouraged and worried about having children. I thought that discipline and correction were supposed to be a harrowing, daily battle with no end in sight, stress overflowing from every pore, with few answers. And this was the example I saw from the better behaved children!
This has been so encouraging to me because I feel like I can do it. It all seems so easy compared to what I see most parents endure! Having well-behaved kids IS easier!
I say all this because this is like once-in-a-lifetime stuff, where I feel like I’ve turned a corner, and I can see that bright future ahead of me.

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~Mrs. R March 30, 2011 at 9:35 AM

Good Morning Laura!
Seeing today’s children can be quite discouraging if you don’t know there is any other way to raise them! All of the ‘current wisdom’ in raising children is based on false ideas. We can examine the fruit of those philosophies and see that it is rotten. And the very things “they” tell us will supposedly damage our children are the very things that actually allows them to thrive! And very well too I might add.

Don’t be surprised that many of your friends will reject this training. They will have their favorite methodologies they try to follow, without consulting God’s word on the matter. Finding out what God has to say is not a quick, one minute or less read. The bible doesn’t have an “index”! And the most precious insights are the ones you have poured over the bible to find, diligently seeking for God’s answers.

Child discipline is not supposed to be a daily battle and doesn’t have to be – - – when you start early AND are consistent. I will tell you that it is the consistency that is really the most difficult part! When you are tired and have just sat down for a quiet cup of tea and a Mozart sonata playing quietly in the background – it isn’t then that you can relax your standards for your little ones. Oh, and when you start early guess what? There are no “terrible twos”!! They are a joy to be around. Busy little bees, yes. Terrors, no! I loved watching the wonder and joy on Arrow’s little face and in his little voice as he discovered something new! Oh how I would love to have been able to have more children! MANY more!!

I would be so sad to hear parents say things that indicated they didn’t like being around their children. “I can’t wait for vacation to be over and they go back to school.” “These kids are driving me crazy.” “I wish I didn’t have so many children (and they only have three).” “These kids get on my nerves.” I am sure you have heard many of these comments. Even teen aged children (termed youths) can be a joy to be around. Arrow is just reaching that age and I find the time moves far too fast for me! I want it to move slower so I can enjoy it more. You will have to remember that when you have 4 little ones all under the age of 5. Yes the olders can help some, but it will be a VERY busy time until you have trained some helpers! Busy isn’t the same thing as distraught!

I am so glad you have found encouragement here! Children are a blessing and precious gift from the Lord. I pray you and your fiance will be blessed with many children that will sit as olive plants around your table!
Blessings,
~Mrs. R

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RM August 14, 2011 at 6:18 PM

Hi,
This is great advice, but keep in mind it might not be very effective when dealing with a child with special needs. My oldest has high functioning autism with hyperactivity and OCD is of course part of the picture. I mentally beat myself up for years before his diagnosis because I could not get him to obsessive stop touching and grabbing things, no matter how hard I tried. Believe me, I tried everything. People were so cruel in their comments about my parenting skills, I often thought I was simply not fit to be a mother at all. Professional help and a special diet might be in order for some of these special needs kids before they can even get to the point that they can learn these skills.

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Courtney July 7, 2012 at 10:13 AM

Greetings! I just came across your blog today when looking for GF options for food storage and preparedness. I have two young children that are clinically diagnosed as having Celiac’s so I am having to purge quite a bit from my food storage and learning to cook in a whole new way. We are 8 months into the adventure, and so far, it has made such a huge improvement in the two children. It has been hard to find information on food storage that relates to GF and today I found your blog and another one that you’d commented on, after searching numerous times over many months. Thank you for all the information you have presented. I can’t wait until I get a chance to print off some of your recipes and try them!

Thanks again,

Courtney

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~Aunt Mae (~Mrs. R) July 7, 2012 at 11:05 AM

Hello Courtney!
Thank you so much for your kind words about my blog! I am glad you found this information helpful. In all the preparedness blogs and books there is little to NO help when you have to avoid some foods! Then all the preparedness packaged kits are FULL of wheat gluten, especially for it’s protein boost… eek!

You might want to check out my latest post
http://honeyfromflintyrocks.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/gluten-dairy-free-thoughts-on-preparedness/ where I list the kinds of things I store. Not an exhaustive list and there is no way for any one family to be able to store all they will ever need… but one must begin somewhere!

Happy preppin!
Blessings, Aunt Mae

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