This morning my two boys were watching Pingu while we got ready. For those of you who are better parents than I and don't let your kids watch TV, PIngu is a claymation penguin. In one scene, PIngu was unhappy. My five year old yelled over to me..."Mommy, Pingu is sad! His mommy is playing with the baby brother and not with Pingu!" I am cringing, waiting for him to talk about how he relates to Pingu in light of his own little brother..."Oh, really?"..."Yeah, she shouldn't do that. She should play with both of them, like you do, right Mommy?"
I was clearly too busy doing my good parenting happy dance to respond :)
So tell me about your most recent or favorite moment when you felt like a (gasp) GOOD parent?
Today my daughter got an award in school. She was recognized for empathy. The award is hers and hers alone. The reason I feel as though it is a good parent victory for both my husband and myself is because we must be on the right track if others are recognizing this quality in her. I am of course immensely proud of her for all of her hard work and for being true to her character.
Last night, I was putting together a pizza for dinner. Husband and the kids were sitting around the table and bar/counter chatting. Started talking about camp coming up this summer. Husband was the "adult chaperone" that took our kids (and the other kids from church) to camp last summer. He was unable to get vacation time that corresponds to the camp this year, so he can't go again (he would LOVE to, he really enjoyed it).
Well, for the most part, he let the kids "ignore" him while they were there. They were very independent, and he hung out with the other adults, etc.
He said to me, "You should go one time... you'd love it, too."
Then the kids (11 & 14 yrs old) started with the:
"Nooooo... we'd be about to go down the rock slide and you'd be all 'don't jump from that far'. Or we'd be climbing in the mountain and you'd be 'Don't run, it's slippery!' and stuff."
:D
I said to them... Probably. So when you are there this summer, think about this conversation and everytime you start to do something, think to yourself: "If Mom were here....." so you don't do anything dangerous!
I had to laugh. I love them having fun, but I have the hardest time closing my eyes to danger. I don't know how dad's do it. Some of the adult dads at the camp were doing some of the most dangerous stuff, too. It is crazy "free" there. Rope swings over swimming holes, mountain trails, capture the flag in the woods of North Carolina... Lots of ways to get hurt or do something stupid. None of it has an "employee" supervising so that nobody breaks the rules. There aren't any rules. Just common sense, for the most part. It's great for the kids.
So the idea that they know what I would say (to be alert to doing something stupidly dangerous) means that I have taught them a little situational awareness.... I hope!
Zachariah 4:10 for who hath despised the day of small things?
In kind of backwards Bible speak, yeah! Small victories are precious!
And you know exactly how he feels!
Way to go, MAMA!
How cute! Thanks for the chuckle.
Not long ago we were under a tornado warning and so I explained to the 6 and 7 year old children about it and that we're going to get in the bathtub if we need to and so we need to put pillows in and stuff like that. I told them as I collecting things together, "we'll be alright, nothing is really going to happen to us; better to be safe than sorry." A few minutes later I walked in the room and the 6 year old was starting to get very scared and starting to cry and his sister said, "remember what grandma said, nothing is really going to happen, we'll be alright, besides, it's better to be safe than silly."
I laughed as I turned my head so they wouldn't see. It was cute.
Your post made me smile!
A few years ago, I picked up my youngest from a sleepover at a friend's. As we got into the car, he looked at me with his big gray eyes and said, "Mom, I'm really glad you taught us to chew with our mouths closed." And then he gave a little mock shudder.
I laughed for about 1/2 an hour.
