One of those days

I should have known it was going to be one of those days last week when my five year old came into my room in the morning in great distress. He couldn't get his shirt off the hanger. What complicated matters was that he had already put the shirt on (hanger and all). The day proved to be a rough day for this particular child and myself, but at least it started with a little laugh.

Time to Train Clarification

I hope, if you are a parent of children in the home, that when you read my original post, that it was encouraging to see that fruit will come. I hope also, though, that you didn't think I have it all together in my training of my children. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have so much to learn. I wrote the post mostly to remind myself of the importance of taking the time to train. Because it does take time, lots of time and lots of patience! Little by little, when we have taken the much needed time, it has been fruitful. I need to remember that. In the daily grind, we get so caught up in crossing things off of our list (I am really talking to myself), that we forget what our goals are. I get so caught up in the short little sprint of the day, that the marathon of life is no where in view. Of course sometimes we need to focus on today to remain sane, but we have to remember what our goals are.

Thank you to all that have commented.

On a practical level, one comment was about arranging the kitchen so the kids could unload the dishwasher. I have run across this when I have had my kids unload. I told them to put all the items that belonged in a place too high for them to reach on the counter. I found 90% of the items on the counter. So that is one thing I do myself. But if I would rearrange, it wouldn't have to be that way. I want to have an atmosphere for training. I would love to hear of ideas that that you have had or have heard that has helped you train your children.

Time to Train

When my kids were little (like when they were 3, 2 and a baby) I wondered how on earth people could have more than three. I even wondered how I was going to survive with three. When you are in the middle of babies and toddlers, it is hard to look past the diapers, bottles, carseats, pack-n-plays, naptime, high chairs, having to tote anything and everything with you when you go anywhere, and having to do everything for your kids, like putting on clothes, shoes, coats, etc. But then little by little, things change, suddenly you aren't putting on 4 pairs of shoes (counting your own) whenever you need to run to the store. You can say "get your coat on" and it happens. And my all time favorite was when I could tell them to get in the car and get buckled. I wasn't having to buckle 3 different carseats anymore! You realize that your job (in addition to the most important job of teaching them the things of the Lord) is to help them become more and more independent. We are training them to become adults! I am learning more each day of what my kids are capable of if I would just take the time to train them. But the time is well invested. Even though it is so much faster (and might look a whole lot better) to clean the bathroom counter myself, Clay will never learn if I don't take the time to teach him. Baking a cake is a whole lot easier when it is just me measuring, adding and mixing. But they are learning when they are reading the recipe, measuring out the ingredients and turning on the mixer. And then you have days when you see the fruit of your labor.

Normally, we have company in our home once a week for dinner. We have gotten to the point where I can say we are having company tonight, lets get the house straightened up. Now, I can put the leaf in the table and they will put the pad and tablecloth on. I can get the dishes from the high shelf and they will set the table. And I can even tell Paige what I would like help with in the cooking or baking and she will (for the most part) take care of it herself. It is a huge help to me, but it is also reminding them that we are serving as a family.

I am writing this more to myself, to remind myself, that training takes time and energy. But in time we can have confidence that our children will grow. I want my kids to be prepared adults. Unfortunately, they aren't always wanting to be trained, but we are working through that too. Teaching to work hard is another lesson in itself.

The best reward is seeing their face when the cookies turn out just right, the table looks great when the company comes or when you say to them "you have been a big help to Mommy!"

Below is a picture of Paige a few weeks ago, baking cookies for company coming. (Paige has found that an added benefit of mixing the cookies herself, is that she can add as many chocolate chips as she would like!)