Intentionally Growing

Good morning friends!

This past week I started praying even more about the purpose of this blog and our role as parents. As always, it's been my intention to help parents gain an understanding about healthy family life and purposeful parenting. So, I now have a "Garden For God" Facebook page in an effort to dialogue with you more, make it more convenient and give you an opportunity to write about things on your heart.  Your feedback is important to me on this journey and it also helps me grow as a parent more than you know :)

This poem spoke to me today and I wanted to share it with all of you..

Whoever makes a garden
Has, oh, so many friends;
The glory of the morning
The dew when sunlight ends.
For rain and wind and sunshine
And dew and fertile sod;
For he who makes a garden
Works hand in hand with God.
~Author Unknown

Peace and blessings,
Lesa

Be Fully Present

Good morning to a beautiful day!

Recently, I was having lunch with my family at a sandwich shop and my younger daughter noticed a family eating together but not really enjoying each other! The mom and dad were both looking at their phones and the kids were longing for their attention.

As parents, we not only model the expected behavior that we want from our children but we teach them what is important! Unfortunately, the message this situation was sending the children was their parent's emails, messages and phone calls were much more important. Not to mention, the behavior will probably be imitated by the children when they are old enough to have their own phones during a family gathering.

It's been said many times that families today do not have meals together. Even if you don't have a meal around your kitchen table it doesn't mean it's not a family meal.  Many lessons are learned and family bonding occurs at a table, whether in a restaurant, a picnic table or a patio table! Remember to always be fully present during these special times with your children. This is when you teach them how to communicate, appreciate and love one another. They grow up fast so don't miss the opportunity to teach them during this special time. They will cherish these moments, remember them and eventually recreate them in their own homes :)

Peace and blessings,
Lesa

"There is no doubt that it is around the family, and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of humans, are created, strengthened and maintained." ~Winston Churchill

Let Them Fail

Good morning!

Today as my son was running late and driving away to school I thought about all the other kids and how they are getting adjusted to the new school year. No matter the age or grade of your child it takes them a while to get into their routines. One of the things we can do as parents as they enter into a new school year is help them succeed. I'm sure you're thinking... well course that's what we want to do as parents BUT sometimes helping them to succeed means letting them fail. Learning is the act of acquiring new knowledge about something. As parents, we want learning to be easy and pain free but some of the best lessons are not always easy.

If you constantly remind your child to return their library book to school and they don't then they will learn they can no longer check a new book out. It's OK, because they will return it the next time so they can get a new book. You have to remember it's not your responsibility to go to school and return it!  They really won't learn anything except you are protecting them from failing.

These little lessons are OK for them. It doesn't hurt them, they learn something and you are actually helping them succeed and be responsible in the future. This is only a little example of the many opportunities that you have to help your child learn. Every parent wants their child to be successful, independent and accepted but if we always protect them from failure or disappointments they will never take ownership of their own responsibilities.  Just remember...

"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement." ~C.S. Lewis

Peace and blessings,
Lesa

More Than Just Thank You

Good morning!

One of our responsibilities as a parent is to help our children understand the concept of appreciation.  The obvious form of appreciation for children is saying thank you but it's far deeper than that and as parents we have to explain that to our children.  We do so much for them they can unknowingly begin to expect certain things so it's our job to help them understand what real appreciation means.

Children need to be aware of the worth of things and have an full understanding of any situation that you expect them to show thankfulness.  Even in the small things you do daily, explain to them so they understand what your intent and purpose is for doing something.

Remember, you can't expect them to appreciate something they don't understand.  Guilt doesn't make them appreciate things more, it makes them resent things more.  Talk, explain, demonstrate and have them occasionally do some of the things you normally do for them so they know how much work it is then... they can understand :)

"Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and thus is a source of civilized delight."
                                                                                                                                           William Safire

Peace and blessings,
Lesa