Seeing the World Through Your Child's Eyes!

I will never forget a conversation I had with my three year old daughter many years ago.  I actually wrote it in my journal at the time.

"Mom do you like butterflies?"

"Of course I like butterflies,  do You?"  "Oh yes, she says , I love butterflies" 

"What about the sun?"  "Oh yes, I love the sun too!"

I don't know if it was because she was my youngest but I cherished these conversations so much back then , I was learning after having three children to appreciate these sweet conversations because I saw how quickly the days were passing and how my time with my young children was fleeing.

Don't Outgrow the Nursery

This Sunday we will have to decide whether or not we should hand out saltine crackers.

And we'll be busy matching diaper bags with nametags and who is supposed to take a nap and whose hairclip got pulled out and which baby is the odor culprit and what toys were slobbered and need to be washed.

And there's potential in there for us to be outnumbered. And out maneuvered. And there have definitely been Sundays when all I've wanted was-- out.

As parents, we all want to build character and teach responsibility. One of the best methods of instilling character is through having a home chore system. Chores are necessary for enjoying a peaceful organized home, yet sometimes the battle of doing them seems to outweigh the wonderful results of completing them.  I've found that when chore time is fun to do, both mom and children benefit.

Today I wanted to share 5 ways that our family has found to make doing chores fun:

When my husband and I became parents it did not take us long to realize there was one powerful way we could show God’s love and our love to our child...and it didn’t matter that our son was one a few weeks old! We began doing this right away and it helped us love as a family even better.

Apologizing.

 

Dear God,

It seems as though we're all set for the week ahead. I've got all my organic, pesticide-free produce bought, washed and chopped, ready for lunches. My kids' chore chart is hung, with age-approriate chores for each of my children to do each day this week. We've got our Awana memory verses placed in strategic areas throughout our home, and our Bible on CD ready to go in the car. I'm all set to lead the PTA meeting at school, head our Ladies' Ministry Committee at church, and I think I can finally get around to making those homemade vitamins this week, too. My workouts are all scheduled into my fitness tracker and I've got the sitter all set for the fancy surprise date with a cool theme for hubby and I's date night this week.

So, it looks like we've got things pretty well under control, You and I. Only...

The days can seem mundane and chaotic. We become lost in the consistent feeding of our children, bathing them, clothing them, washing their clothes, cleaning their dishes, changing diapers. 

We can get caught up in the robotic life of caring for the physical needs of our children.

Nurturing our children can become lost in all the day to day “necessities”. Which are necessary to living, but mothering is so much more than that.

Oftentimes, instead of my children being individuals, with unique personalities and interests, they are cared for as a collective bunch.