Work Hard

Our children watch our every move.  They listen to our every word.  So much of who they become is a reflection of who they most watched.  There is so much pressure as a parent to live my live in an exemplary way.  They way I respond to a rude person in a parking lot, the way I greet my husband when he comes home from work, they way I react when they spill milk, they way I spend my free time, the way I take care of myself, the company I keep… They are learning most everything from me in these early years.  It’s daunting.  Then there’s the dishes.  Something simple, mindless really, that I do every day without thinking about it.  And who is watching? learning? wanting to be just like Mommy? The 2 year old monkey!  He has become my little dishwasher.  I realized that he has seen Mommy working hard around the house and he wants to work hard too (or splash around a little!)  I think that teaching our children the value of working hard is very important.  Our children are a valuable part of our family and they have something to contribute, something that we need.  It gives them such a huge sense of worth and importance when they work hard in the family.  This often comes through teaching them household chores and letting them stumble through them as they learn.  I highlighted a little summer fun I’ll be doing with my children in my Yummy Summer post last week – it’s about having a special chore chart for the summer.  My children are still little, so this is still new for them.  If you have older children, I recommend having weekly chores for them to do throughout the year to affirm that they are a useful and valuable part of the family.  I know the day is quickly coming when my little man will be able to reach the sink without a chair and use the soap without help (tear) and I hope when that time comes he’ll still love washing dishes!

*Link up tomorrow for Yummy Summer!
Where we swap Summertime ideas, activities, crafts, recipes...
to make this a very Yummy Summer for our children!