Noah’s teacher is working on getting the children to understand the importance of giving this time of year rather than just receiving. Really, this is something that we should all focus on…myself included. It is really hard when my son automatically thinks he will be getting something when we go to the store, as soon as he hears I am going he wants to tag along and THAT equals stress for me because even if I tell him no toy… it is a battle. as soon as we get in the store he starts with ‘no toy right mama’… which leads to ‘can we just go look at them’ which leads to ‘can I just get this one’ which leads to ‘you don’t have to get me one again’ which leads to ‘I have been looking for this one all my life’ which leads to ‘please mama, please please’ which leads to ‘your mean mama, so mean to make a little boy cry’… oh, if I could only get him to understand how very blessed he is, to get almost everything he wants and to have so much love… but they are kids and that is really really hard to understand. You know that saying, if I only knew then what I know now… So how do you get kids to ‘get it’… when you have this little thing that relys on you for everything, whose life is so strongly relying on the decisions you make… I really get stressed about it, because we only get one chance and he is like a mirror of our lives, I catch him saying stuff and cringe when he says something that is all mine…and I really wished he hadn’t heard that. Like when he said the word idiot, not bad but not nice… and then I heard myself say it while I was driving… oops! I don’t always make the right choices, yes, it is easier to go shopping and spend money on crap I don’t need than to write a check and put it in the basket at church. I realize that to teach giving, I must learn to give… freely and whole-heartedly… And not just from the excess… from the best of myself, giving up things I don’t need to do things for others that do need. So, my son has to take a gift for Blue Santa for his class, and I won’t go to just any store to find something that will ‘do’, I am going to march him to his favorite Toy Store and tell him to pick something he knows he would want…because it will make another person very happy too… and we will take it home, wrap it… and give it with all our heart (mine at least, I may have to pry it out of his hands) and I will imagine a smiling kid on Christmas morning that will be just as happy as mine was buying it – until he had to give it away that is…! and maybe, just maybe Santa will sneak an extra one in the basket for a thoughtful boy… (wink wink)
Enjoy life’s simple pleasures, every moment is!
I am thankful today for a thoughtful husband that puts up with a crying boy and rushed wife every morning.
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