I opened Jack Jack's preschool report card this morning. I was QUITE proud of what I read. In addition to the smiley face and all the positive check marks on the page, there is a wonderful note at the bottom about his leadership skills. And although I do listen to tons of Leadership Development on audio in the car...I'm pretty sure the tricks and tips that Darren Hardy is teaching me on finding the MO are not speaking to him on his little 4 year old level.
I was blessed with some positive adult conversation with some mom's at a birthday party at the almighty LEGOLAND yesterday. They admired my parenting skills and one even went as far as saying I need to follow her around and help her. Fortunately, I had Jack Jack with me as the example child. He's the easier child (right now) so everything appears perfect on the surface. He's the huggy bear. He doesn't like to disappoint people so he can be a people-pleaser. Don't get me wrong, he's actually the strong willed child. He's very determined. However, he does not need to know "why" all the time. His reasoning and comprehension skills are quite sharp for his age. He connects the dots quickly and just understand things and follows directions easily. So the other mom's see an example of a "perfect" child, and think I am a great parent. He's not perfect and neither am I! |
Seth is my 6 year old "Sheldon". If you watch The Big Bang Theory you'll understand this character to be very literal, has tunnel vision, needs an intelligent reason for EVERYTHING, asks 2.3 million questions a day and does not follow directions as well unless he truly gets it. His dots do not connect as quickly on a social or daily life level but he can take a Lego set meant for age 10 to 14 up to his room and have it built flawlessly in a half hour. He's brilliant. And has an engineer mind, hence needing to know WHY all the time so he can connect the dots.
Parenting is the most exhausting thing I do. One parent told me yesterday that she's exhausted by all I do by what she sees on Facebook. Parenting appears as the easiest thing I do on FB in all the happy moments. But it's not the easiest for me, by far. Parenting takes time, selflessness, patience, intentional decisions, creativity and most of all, TIME. I have to work hard at it daily to not blow off "Sheldon's" questions in frustration and to be consistent with Jack Jack when he's pushing the boundaries.
We do NOT have it all together and no one does. A few years ago, David and I listened to "How to Have a New Kid by Friday". It's about a 5 or 6 hour listen. I highly recommend both parents listen to it together to help change a direction your family is going in or if your children are small, to learn some key disciplines to the consistency needed in parenting. It takes work.
Are you willing to invest a few hours and listen to how you can change the happiness level in your home? We have the power to raise future leaders or brats. I cannot be certain of how my boys will turn out, but I do know that the effort I put into them, the time I invest into growing my parenting skills will be what I get out of them. I have several examples of people from my past that I have seen be consistent with their kids and now that those kids are grown...HOLY COW... I see how worth it it is to invest that time, energy and discipline. Tough work, but work you can be proud of in knowing you raised good leaders.
Click on my one of my AMAZON links below. I subscribe to Audible and actually pay to get 3 books a month that David and I listen to and discuss. Kind of a New Years Resolution for keeping on the same page and growing together. In addition to the above mentioned book, here are some other parenting books I HIGHLY recommend once you sign up below! Don't go crazy downloading books though. Pick one and listen to it. Resources are vast and overwhelming but they are not doing good if you just collect them. You have to read or listen and apply the principles. A lot of these selections come in book form, available on Kindle and Audible. (The book pictures are for reference, not clickable links.)
Parenting is the most exhausting thing I do. One parent told me yesterday that she's exhausted by all I do by what she sees on Facebook. Parenting appears as the easiest thing I do on FB in all the happy moments. But it's not the easiest for me, by far. Parenting takes time, selflessness, patience, intentional decisions, creativity and most of all, TIME. I have to work hard at it daily to not blow off "Sheldon's" questions in frustration and to be consistent with Jack Jack when he's pushing the boundaries.
We do NOT have it all together and no one does. A few years ago, David and I listened to "How to Have a New Kid by Friday". It's about a 5 or 6 hour listen. I highly recommend both parents listen to it together to help change a direction your family is going in or if your children are small, to learn some key disciplines to the consistency needed in parenting. It takes work.
Are you willing to invest a few hours and listen to how you can change the happiness level in your home? We have the power to raise future leaders or brats. I cannot be certain of how my boys will turn out, but I do know that the effort I put into them, the time I invest into growing my parenting skills will be what I get out of them. I have several examples of people from my past that I have seen be consistent with their kids and now that those kids are grown...HOLY COW... I see how worth it it is to invest that time, energy and discipline. Tough work, but work you can be proud of in knowing you raised good leaders.
Click on my one of my AMAZON links below. I subscribe to Audible and actually pay to get 3 books a month that David and I listen to and discuss. Kind of a New Years Resolution for keeping on the same page and growing together. In addition to the above mentioned book, here are some other parenting books I HIGHLY recommend once you sign up below! Don't go crazy downloading books though. Pick one and listen to it. Resources are vast and overwhelming but they are not doing good if you just collect them. You have to read or listen and apply the principles. A lot of these selections come in book form, available on Kindle and Audible. (The book pictures are for reference, not clickable links.)
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