Parenting



My husband in a road race.

 Do you want your kids to act the way you do?

You know the saying:

Do as I say, not as I do?



It doesn't work so well. My daughter is 14 and started driving. Guess what? She drives like I do! Yikes, that is scary. Kids watch and learn from you. 

• If you are constantly eating junk, they will probably eat junk.
• If you are driving poorly, they will probably drive poorly.
• If you make your life so busy so you are stressed out all of the time, they will probably do the same.
• If you sit around and watch t.v. all of the time, they will probably sit around and watch t.v. all the time.

On the flip side:





My son has decided that he likes to run too.


• If you exercise, they will probably exercise.
• If you take time to stop and smell the lilac bushes (okay, I know it's roses, but lilacs are blooming now and smell soooooo good), they will probably do the same.
• If you treat your spouse with respect, they will probably do the same.
• If you read, they will probably read (not the case with my son!)

Think about it:

What do you need to change about yourself so that your kids will grow up and be the person you want them to be?

I hope that question made sense - what do I want for my kids? I need to stop and think about this too. I haven't thought about it that way before. One thing I do know is this: I want them to enjoy life. I want them to know that you do NOT have to be busy 24 X 7  - I want them to take time to play. I took my son to the park the other day. We played baseball (poor kid - no wonder he struggles with baseball considering I made him swing at any ball that I threw to him...) and we threw rocks in the creek. When my daughter called for a ride home, he was so disappointed that we had to leave.

Do you know how many things I could have done at home? A bazillion.

His comment as we were walking back to the car was this "I had the best time, I sure hope we can do that again soon." He's 12 years old and he enjoyed hanging out with this mom throwing rocks. Hmmmm...

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11th Heaven Homemaking Haven