Monday, January 19, 2009

My Fish and Gingerbread Sandwich Was Delicious Today!


You heard me correct. My son made me a fish and gingerbread sandwich this morning. It was fabulous. I have to admit something -- this has not been one of my best "mom" weeks. I've been selfish, distracted, irritable, and just plain difficult. Unfortunately, my children have taken the brunt of it. Rather than taking time to focus on them and all their needs, I've just been getting by with meeting their immediate needs. The weeks where my children are the worst behaved and most disobedient are the weeks when my attention is not focused on them. Don't get me wrong -- there are legitimate things I need to do and there are times when my kids need to understand how to entertain themselves, but I pushed it too far this week. Each time I pushed them away to do what I thought needed my attention more, the guilt set in. Today we put all things aside and from the moment we woke up the day was about us spending time together. We sat and ate breakfast together and then watched some cartoons. After that we played restaurant (which is where I had my delicious sandwich) for at least an hour and then built towers with Lego's. We went out to lunch and colored the whole time. You know what was amazing, we had no behavior issues, no disobedience, no ungratefulness -- just pleasant, cheerful children. Obviously, not every day can be like this, but a part of every day should be like this. We have this one chance to be the most important influence in our children's lives, and if I can't make time for them when they are 2 and 3, what makes me think I will when they are 15 and 16? And if I can't influence them now, I'm certainly not going to be able to in another 10 years. How about you? When was your last fish and gingerbread sandwich?

2 comments:

amber said...

I so know what you're talking about and I've noticed the same things with my two-year-old. The days when I sit and play with her and interact with her, the better behaved it seems like she is. When I'm distracted, forget it! Obviously it's not ALWAYS like this, but more often than not! Thanks for the great post! It's always good to be reminded and to know that there are others out there going through the same things.

Andrea said...

How true! Thanks for posting this, I needed to hear that as I sit here on my computer. Time to get the focus back where it should be...