What a conversation~ girl to girl-- this little word can cause quit the hup~la! To say the least! It is like telling someone Else's child "No" and have the crazy lady go off on you that children should not be told no-- but to learn by their own mistakes!
So when do children learn from their own mistakes? Do they learn when they touch the hot stove, when they hit another child and the child hits back, or is it when they end up in the emergency room? It is a cruel world out there! Children are reminded daily about the violence, lack of morals, drugs, racial wars......
Do you ever feel as if you are swimming up stream and the current is raging? I am sure you feel the same as I do! It is the hardest thing we teach our children and the most criticized topic out there!
Let's define RESPECT~ respect is NOT obedience! People confuse obedience as putting the fear into children and demanding respect. The ultimate goal in teaching respect is allowing children to choose to obey out of respect. Respect is an attitude. We give respect to elders, by being polite to others. This kind of respect is given to teachers, policemen.... etc.
The other kind of respect is one in which people earn towards someone who has earned it through something they have done. They earn this respect through a commitment that they accomplished or earned. We give them respect and thank them for their commitment and respect them out of admiration. Military is great example!
As parents, educators, caregivers, neighbors we need to work together and teach children both examples of respect. We want our children to respect others as they would like to be treated, we would like our children to treat other people better than what they expect to be treated. We need to put Christ in the manner of RESPECT. We want children to be honorable to themselves and to others within the community. And unfortunately sometimes it is not the teaching of respect that causes such a hup~la in our community, but the way people are teaching children how to respect and what they feel is acceptable and what is not. It is when we teach our children that their job is to prove that they are right and not accept responsibility for their mistakes. It is when we as adults overstep our boundaries as parents and do allow our children to be responsible for their mistakes. It is NOW that we create a child who demands respect but does not know how to give it. They demand items that they are unsure how to accept. They are children who do not understand how to behave in society-- they are the children that we do not see smiling when we smile at them!
So what can we do?
Teach our children to be honest! Teach our children to obey the rules and when they make mistakes teach them to admit it, apologize, follow through with the punishment and move on!
Be trusting~ show your child confidence. Allow them to make their own decisions. Give them guidance as they need it.
Be fair. Listen to your child before you jump to conclusions. Listen to both sides of the story.
Be consistent. Stick to the rules. And stick to the rules even when you don't totally agree with them.
Be polite.
Be a good listener!
Be dependable.
Be respectful of authority. Don't criticize those who are authority figures or leadership positions. Teach you child to be respectful of the differences of opinions!
"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
So the next time you are out and about and you see that unhappy child in the middle of a happy family~ maybe the child just needs a little smile and prayer!
God Bless all the parents who are teaching RESPECT!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Champion
Today was the ultimate pinewood derby race. 4 boys and 2 scouts! Lots of cars! Henry usally creates the creative car of the race-- One year he had the most colorful car-- it had so much paint on it, it almost did not make it across the line (that was his Tiger year). Then we had the sarcophagus of King Tut, and then last year we had the Egyptian Pyramid. This year he wanted to go 'FAST' so he and Daddy researched how to make a 'FAST' car-- after many hits on the net-- they created the Luigi Mobile.It was bright red with a big L on the top!
It is so neat to watch the race. The Tigers (which is the youngest group of scouts) ~ they have the most creative & colorful cars. They add drivers, stickers, lots of paint, and they are usally the biggest cars on the track. As the boys get older-- they usally have one color of paint, a theme, and the cars get smaller and faster.
Well~ Henry blew away the rest of the cars! He was running at about 207.49 miles per hour down the track! His car was taking the lead before the cars got to the flat run way! He was so proud. I am not sure Henry has ever won first place ever! He was so proud!
Way to go Champion!
It is so neat to watch the race. The Tigers (which is the youngest group of scouts) ~ they have the most creative & colorful cars. They add drivers, stickers, lots of paint, and they are usally the biggest cars on the track. As the boys get older-- they usally have one color of paint, a theme, and the cars get smaller and faster.
Well~ Henry blew away the rest of the cars! He was running at about 207.49 miles per hour down the track! His car was taking the lead before the cars got to the flat run way! He was so proud. I am not sure Henry has ever won first place ever! He was so proud!
Way to go Champion!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Pack Rat
Anyone who knows my husband~ knows he keeps everything! Everything has some sort of meaning from either his past childhood or his present childhood. There is a story about everything he keeps! At least he thinks he is still keeping everything!
My husband and I have been married for close to 15 years. We were dating long before that! So it has been a LONG time! Right after we were married, my husband was determined to go into business for himself. PLUTA Construction was the name! Oh~ we were in business for one year~ before he took my advise and went to work for SOMEONE else! In the mean time-- we had a Big sign made for the van, business cards made, T-shirts, and LOTS and LOTS of sweat shirts made. The color scheme was green with white lettering. The logo on the T-shirts and sweat shirts were placed on the backs of the clothing~ the reasoning as you may be wondering--was so that as you drove by and said, "Wow~ what a great roof! I wonder who is building that? Oh- look on the back of those shirts it says "Pluta Construction". That was the reasonining!
Well, it has been 14 years ago ~ oh, what a memory!
As I was cleaning up the attic this fall-- there in the corner of the attic was a BIG box of Green sweat shirts! How have we kept these for that long! I had my older son Teddy help me carry the box down the steps only to not get the box in the trunk of the van before Ted would get home! Back up in the attic went the box. Reasoning~ someday-- he will be looking for a sweat shirt and we will all be proud to wear them! Okay- now that sounds all good-- but really-- we are going to wear a sweat shirt with an old phone number that has a new owner by now and an advertisement that no longer exists! Yeah--that won't happen-- especially when my husband back then was fit and thin-- and now he will not be able to place one arm in the arm hole without getting stuck!
So~ the next morning-- I drug that big box down 2 flights of steps and out into the van! First stop Salvation Army!
He did not even miss the box! The boys were not with me so all is good! He will not know!
Except~ the other night we were going out to dinner and man is it cold this winter! We are sitting at the town square awaiting for the light to change- when a homeless man walks across the street. Then I noticed the green sweat shirt with white lettering! Yep~ you guessed it! I starred forward trying not to make any eye contact with the burning sensation of eyes that were cutting deep into the side of my head! And the murmurring words spoken through the teeth: "Are those my fricken jeans, too?"
"Maybe........................................"
My husband and I have been married for close to 15 years. We were dating long before that! So it has been a LONG time! Right after we were married, my husband was determined to go into business for himself. PLUTA Construction was the name! Oh~ we were in business for one year~ before he took my advise and went to work for SOMEONE else! In the mean time-- we had a Big sign made for the van, business cards made, T-shirts, and LOTS and LOTS of sweat shirts made. The color scheme was green with white lettering. The logo on the T-shirts and sweat shirts were placed on the backs of the clothing~ the reasoning as you may be wondering--was so that as you drove by and said, "Wow~ what a great roof! I wonder who is building that? Oh- look on the back of those shirts it says "Pluta Construction". That was the reasonining!
Well, it has been 14 years ago ~ oh, what a memory!
As I was cleaning up the attic this fall-- there in the corner of the attic was a BIG box of Green sweat shirts! How have we kept these for that long! I had my older son Teddy help me carry the box down the steps only to not get the box in the trunk of the van before Ted would get home! Back up in the attic went the box. Reasoning~ someday-- he will be looking for a sweat shirt and we will all be proud to wear them! Okay- now that sounds all good-- but really-- we are going to wear a sweat shirt with an old phone number that has a new owner by now and an advertisement that no longer exists! Yeah--that won't happen-- especially when my husband back then was fit and thin-- and now he will not be able to place one arm in the arm hole without getting stuck!
So~ the next morning-- I drug that big box down 2 flights of steps and out into the van! First stop Salvation Army!
He did not even miss the box! The boys were not with me so all is good! He will not know!
Except~ the other night we were going out to dinner and man is it cold this winter! We are sitting at the town square awaiting for the light to change- when a homeless man walks across the street. Then I noticed the green sweat shirt with white lettering! Yep~ you guessed it! I starred forward trying not to make any eye contact with the burning sensation of eyes that were cutting deep into the side of my head! And the murmurring words spoken through the teeth: "Are those my fricken jeans, too?"
"Maybe........................................"
Fashion or Foe?
Well~ Readers it has been a long time and a busy year~ but I am back to blogging! I have had a lot of readers write and say that they are looking forward to hearing more stories about my boys! Alot has changed over the last year or so! I am now back to teaching full time and three out of four boys are in school! God bless their teachers!
So enough about that ~ I will be adding some of my blogs that I have been writing down and saving for time to post my blogs!
This one is a Charlie story~ Charlie is a piece of work! A quilt in the making. The other day he was with me in the store and asked for a kit of fake mustaches. He held on to this kit through the whole store-- they were $1.99. So on Saturday he wore a black mustache the whole day! Sunday I told the three younger boys that they would get to go to Wegman's and pick out thier favorite candy before we went to see The Frog and the Princess~ as we are going quickly through the store-- Charlie is walking behind me-- telling everyone he sees Good Morning~ people are just saying Good Morning back-- looking at us as if we had two heads. Now keep in mind-- the goal in this store is to get to the bulk candy-- and get out! I have three boys and there is one way in and one way out!
We finally get up to the register and Charlie is now in front of the cart putting the candy on the register belt. He looks at the older gentleman and says "Are you checking out my Uni-brow?" That is when I noticed that the child has put one of his mustaches across his forehead! And low and behold~ the man in front of us had the BIGGEST Unibrow that I have ever seen that was not on TV! "You are checking out my unibrow~ This is the newest style! Everyone wants a unibrow!" God Bless the wife of this old man~ she could now longer fake smile when she realized her husband was loving this! People were peeking over the register to see this site! They were now pointing and snickering as these two Unibrow boys were showing everyone the best part of the Unibrow~ "Mom~ Did you know that when you raise your Unibrow-- you can make them touch your hairline!"
Oh-- the proud moments you stand and say:"That's my boy!"
"You know what else I need Mom? I need to get my teeth pulled out like this guy so I can take them out and smile this big with my Unibrow!"
So enough about that ~ I will be adding some of my blogs that I have been writing down and saving for time to post my blogs!
This one is a Charlie story~ Charlie is a piece of work! A quilt in the making. The other day he was with me in the store and asked for a kit of fake mustaches. He held on to this kit through the whole store-- they were $1.99. So on Saturday he wore a black mustache the whole day! Sunday I told the three younger boys that they would get to go to Wegman's and pick out thier favorite candy before we went to see The Frog and the Princess~ as we are going quickly through the store-- Charlie is walking behind me-- telling everyone he sees Good Morning~ people are just saying Good Morning back-- looking at us as if we had two heads. Now keep in mind-- the goal in this store is to get to the bulk candy-- and get out! I have three boys and there is one way in and one way out!
We finally get up to the register and Charlie is now in front of the cart putting the candy on the register belt. He looks at the older gentleman and says "Are you checking out my Uni-brow?" That is when I noticed that the child has put one of his mustaches across his forehead! And low and behold~ the man in front of us had the BIGGEST Unibrow that I have ever seen that was not on TV! "You are checking out my unibrow~ This is the newest style! Everyone wants a unibrow!" God Bless the wife of this old man~ she could now longer fake smile when she realized her husband was loving this! People were peeking over the register to see this site! They were now pointing and snickering as these two Unibrow boys were showing everyone the best part of the Unibrow~ "Mom~ Did you know that when you raise your Unibrow-- you can make them touch your hairline!"
Oh-- the proud moments you stand and say:"That's my boy!"
"You know what else I need Mom? I need to get my teeth pulled out like this guy so I can take them out and smile this big with my Unibrow!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)