christianparenting

I just woke up from two dreams that involved my little girl getting away from me and chasing her down.

The first was that the circus was in town and my darling little five year old decided she wanted to join the circus and go live with them on the road. Apparently in the dream world, a five year old can make that decision. So after they had left I hopped in the car and chased them down the road, when they stopped I got in and begged her, tears an all to come home, which she did.

Then I dreamed my friend and I and her children were walking through the city and her daughter was pushing my daughter in the stroller. She was up ahead and took a wrong turn which led her and my daughter onto the side of a major highway, we kept calling but she couldn’t hear us and just kept walking. I chased them, running as fast as I could and woke up having not gotten her yet.

I’m sure these dreams are due to the fact that my daughter, who is my youngest, is now in school and is growing up and is not quite my baby any more.

Of course I woke up with her next to me (she usually sneaks in our bed sometime between the middle of the night and early morning) so I guess she’s not that far:)

Just saw a commercial with the High School Musical 3 cast advertising for bread!

Though I appreciate that it’s whole grain, seriously, bread?!

And they’re all dancing around because it’s so good you wanna dance. Of course, my children ALWAYS dance around the kitchen for bread.

Though I won’t be buying it because I’ve been trying to save money and bake my own (click here to see) I’m sure my five year old daughter will be wanting this bread as soon as she sees the commercial.

I know I’ve ranted about commercials and consumerism before, just found this advertisement absurd and hard to match up. I can see why some of you have unhooked the TV.

The only thing I’m thankful for is that most of what we watch is on the DVR so we can fast-forward through the commercials, although I can’t avoid the carefully placed products that the stars eat and drink and use on their shows:)

So I have the two stereo types of the dirty little boys and my beautiful little girl. 

My husband and I frequently catch our five year old daughter staring at her self, smiling of course, in the mirror. She’s quite an admirer of herself.

At least she’s got good self-esteem.

I picked up a kids vanity with mirror at our church’s rummage sale. Well she just loves this. She put her brush and hair things in the drawers and she even decorated it. She took the picture of herself off my bureau and put it right there next to the mirror. So as she gazes at her self in the mirror, she can also adore her picture as well.

To be fair, she’s really not that bad, I just find it humorous.

But what I really want her to know is that “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
       but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)

We talk about being beautiful on the inside and how that’s what really counts.

She is a beautiful little girl and as she grows I pray that she develops the beauty within her that only God can give as she lives each day with him.

While most would probably find it appalling, my son thinks that a shower every three days is tortuous.

Before you call me a bad mom or remark about my dirty kids, I find their skin and scalp gets to dry and itchy when they shower to often (think it’s a genetic thing), and yes they do wash up in between, in case you were wondering. I do aim for every other day, but that doesn’t always happen:)

You should hear the tone of my seven year old son’s voice when I ask him to shower, “You make me shower, like, every three days!” Like this is totally unreasonable. You would think I asked him to do ten extra pages of math homework.

I’m sorry to admit that my seven year old darling boy reminds of Pig Pen from Peanuts. The boy, even freshly showered seems perpetually dirty!

I’m constantly sending him back in the bathroom to wash up, and you should see his fingernails, which would be a lot easier to clean if he would let me clip them without having to be pinned down.

When getting into the shower I have to remind him, “please use shampoo in your hair and please put soap on all of your body.”

You would think these would be common sense when getting in the shower, but apparently not, sometimes I think my boys just run the water, stand under it and get out:)

What dirty little boys.

OK - so maybe not a scholar.

So maybe I’m just an overexcited mom.

The truth is, after years of…. “What did you learn about?”…..”Ummm, God, Moses, Jesus?”….”What about them?”…..”I dunno.” and then he’s off to do whatever he was busy at, my little boy seems to be finally comprehending and retaining what his poor teachers have been trying so hard to teach him as he wiggles around the room.

Actually,  he’s becoming a little arrogant about it, which we will deal with later. He’s now stopping the teachers and telling the whole story before they get a chance to.

One day I was subbing for his Sunday School class and while I was asking some review questions he answered every one and goes, “Man, I’m really on today.”

Hopefully his Bible knowledge will filter into his relationship with God and through his actions. But right now I’m quite proud.

We had some nice Mother/Daughter time yesterday when I took my five year old daughter shopping.

Of course this meant that we came home with Dora soup and Hannah Montanna granola bars.

Don’t they sound appetizing.

Truth is, you stick a recognizable character on a box or can and any child that is shopping with mom or dad is now hemming and hawing to get that item.

Mom or dad does not want a scene in the store. Decides this is not a battle worth picking at the time.

So you buy it, go home and add a nice decorative piece to your cabinet, who knows if they’ll actually eat it.

Gotta love marketing.

Though it’s not just talking about soups and granola bars, here’s an interesting bit from Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger:

“Perhaps the most demonic part of advertising is that it attempts  to persuade us that material possessions will bring joy and fulfillment. “That happiness is to be attained by limitless material acquisition is denied by every religion and philosophy known to man, but it is preached incessantly by every American television set.”

How true and how sad.

I’d like to try and break my addiction to more stuff and simplify my life. I’ve made some progress, though some-days not so much.

Hopefully I can teach my children as I go.

My five year old daughter came in looking like she needed a cuddle. So I picked her up and gave her a big hug.

Then I was wopped in the face with her toy robot (the new toy, not really new, but rediscovered from that hovering mound of toys in the back of the living room that I keep saying I’m going to sort through and donate, maybe tomorrow).

“Ow”

“He’s giving you a hug.”

“Oh” Of course.

Though my nose is a little sore I’m grateful for another chance to hug my daughter. I’m thankful that my sons (7 and 9) still let me hug them. Even at school when it’s time to say goodbye and their friends are around. I’m glad that their dad is not to proud to give them hugs and cuddles.

Have you hugged your kids today? Just make sure they’re not carrying a robot, maybe just a teddy bear. (My seven year old is reading over my shoulder as I write and he says, “Or other stuffed animals.”)

“It’s the start of something new…”

Actually it’s not. This is the same line I’ve heard over and over all week.

If you don’t know what this is from, chances are you have no little ones who like to torture you by watching Disney’s “High-School Musical” over and over and over and…

AND THEN - they’re friends come over and they dress up and sing it over and over and, you get the point.

At this point I am grateful we only have the DVD to the first movie, although we do have Camp Rock on the DVR, but I guess that was last month’s phase and we are back to HSM again.

And though I wish I could end this montage of only one line, I do not want to squelch her interests or possible, future musical abilities. Isn’t funny how we analyze every decision as parents into what we could possibly do wrong and destroy their life or future paths? Like it’s in our hands anyway.

While biking to school today my five year old daughter spouts out, “God made us a puzzle!”

“You mean how he made us all different and we all have a part to do?”

“Yeah and he made the world, and he keep’s making. And he’s always working, always working, always working!”

From the mouths of babes. I am so grateful to serve a God that made me different and yet a part of his big plan and I’m so glad he keeps working. He never sleeps.

I’m also thrilled that my daughter, at her young age is starting to comprehend some basic things about God.

Another thing to note is the benefit of spending more time with my children biking it places. It doesn’t take much longer, yet is much more fun and allows a little extra time to spend together then when we’re all in the car with the radio playing and everyone doing their own thing.

It’s quite nice and I find my relationship with my children to be growing as well.

Alright, so I’m still learning with my five year old daughter learning to dress herself.

This morning she came out very practically dressed in a t-shirt and comfortable black pants, and in a very short amount of time, I might add.

I tried to compliment, “That’s a cute outfit.”

“Today is TaeKwon Do! You don’t look cute for Tae Kwon Do!”

“Oh, sorry.”

At least she was thinking ahead as this was at 8 am before school and TaeKwon Do was at 4:30 pm.

I am grateful that this outfit was practical and comfortable as they are not always, and that it did not involve much drama. This is mostly because my husband keeps reminding me when to pick my battles and when to just not accept an argument.

On a side note, I find it strange that I will argue with my five year old daughter when I would never let my boys talk back to me. Of course I think that has something to do with boys and girls as well. Funny how some things you seem to be born with.

Oh - and a little rant -we’ve been trying to “go green” and ride bikes as often as possible. Well, our TaeKwon Do place just started holding classes that are faith based (really cool - based on the fruits of the Spirits and loving God with your mind, body and soul, making Him a part of every part of your life) within biking distance. So our good friends and my family biked it. Here’s my rant - I live in a township that is very proud of it’s green initiatives and yet not all of it’s roads (and I mean main ones) have sidewalks! We have to adapt our root and ride a little farther to stay on sidewalks so my kids aren’t riding down main roads.