Boys and girls wear shoes differently.
After looking at Miss A’s shoes: She might be getting a little big for these – I see a little more wear near the toes. Let me check.
After looking at Al’s shoes: What the world?!? How did he get a BIG GAPING HOLE in the bottom of this shoe? Did he step on a hot coal? What?
After I asked Al how he got that hole in his shoe, he tells me he has no idea. I would think he would have felt a draft or something. The hole was HUGE. Sigh.
I am working on a project with my 13 year old, Nat. We are building a robot while all of the other kids are doing Summer work and school. We look at the instructions. I give him guidance and he does it – a little bit every day so nobody gets frustrated and nothing gets broken. He was putting together the gear boxes and he was doing everything right when the time came to tighten the screws. He reached in the direction of his screwdriver a couple of times and kept pulling back. I told him, “Don’t be afraid – go for it,” but I remembered being insecure at his age about, well, just about everything. I really felt thankful to be in a place to encourage him because once he was done, his face completely lit up with the realization that he could assemble a box that included gears, a motor and wiring all by himself.
I have been having some serious challenges with my oldest son. He is getting older and feeling the need to test the boundaries that his father and I have had firmly in place all of his life. He wants to question and when we tell him to do things, he wants to explain and have a conversation. I never realized how much of my parents resided in me until I started responding to these changes. I know my mouth is moving, but the words (and the tone of voice) that come out belong to my mother and father. Ugh. That can be so so annoying. You know, finding out that stuff rubbed off on you like that.
This morning, I was taking notes in church about ways to shed the old self and the ways that people often give God excuses for their poor choices, in avoidance of making the changes they know they need to change. Then the pastor opened his mouth and said that we shouldn’t try the things with God that we don’t accept from our children. All of the battles with my son (and his siblings) took on new significance. Was I trying to justify some of the junk in my life with God using the very stuff that was driving me up the wall in my kids? Are my kids watching me more closely than I realize and emulating my behavior? I’ve got a lot to think about.
I realize the value of learning from one’s mistakes, but this can be especially tough to come back from when money is involved. I read about the top financial mistakes parents pass down to their children (I also learned about a publication called Forbes Woman, and I thought I was pretty savvy concerning such things – I guess that’s what the internet is for).Read More »
TJs Things 