Recently I have been pondering on how to make my kids more loving towards each other and it occurred to me that service was a good road to take. I'm a big fan of service. Not that I do it nearly as much as I should, but I can dream, and it makes me feel so good when I do. I know that my kids see me taking food to people and their dad helping members of our church move, but I don't think you can truly get how much service matters until you receive it. And even though they reap the benefits of service from me and their dad, that's just our job, or so they think. Soooo I decided to let service be our theme for every Family Home Evenings (FHE) in February. If nothing else they should get it from sheer repetition, right? One would think. One night we did a lesson on service and made the old timey pocket Valentines card holders. The next week we made cards and wrote a service that we would do for that person and the next week we read the cards and have since been doing the services that we promised. I can't believe the impact it has had on MOST of our kids. For example, one day last week I was folding clothes while Emmy and Charlesy sat on my bed doing their homework. I had already asked Emmy to do several things and every time Charles-Allen would say, "No Mama, I'll do it", or "I'll do it for Emmy." BINGO! Totally precious, right! My little man is getting it. Now that is service for love. I am sooo smart. I should write parenting books. Unfortunately, after about the fourth time Charlesy goes out of the room to do Emmy's job and she looks at me and says, "Mama, can you please tell him to do something so I can do it for him, he's making me look bad?...But don't let it be unloading the dishwasher. I'm not unloading the dishwasher for him." Uh oh! What just happened? Now, even though I think Emmy is the sweetest little girl that has ever lived or probably ever will live I realize that she's only doing service for him because he's making her look bad. Man...looks like we'll have to continue on with our theme through March and stop writing my parenting book.
1 autumn leaves rustled:
This just makes me laugh. :) You're a wonderful mom and have so many fun teaching moments for them. I'm kind of like Emmy, though. I like to serve, but there are lots of ways I'd rather serve. :)
Post a Comment