I’m currently in California enjoying a visit with family. The theory is that I’ll have more time to blog while I’m here.
For a light and painless post, I’d like to consider all the challenges that I used to think were tackle-once jobs. Instead, I find myself dealing with them in cycles: challenge, meet the challenge, resolved challenge, challenge again
- Obedience (in many forms!)
- Screaming (when stuck or frustrated– no other children involved)
- Screaming (interpersonal anger)
- Cleanup slowness
- Bedtime challenges
- Eating challenges
Can you think of any more? Isn’t it amazing that with such a short list, we still can’t get a definitive how-to list? That’s on purpose I think. Wouldn’t we depend on a book if the answers could be found in a book? I know I would. And eventually I’m figuring out that God doesn’t just want us to go to him for a how-to resource; He wants fellowship, primarily.
I just wanted to share a little success with clean-up slowness. It will probably only work this once, but it’s worth sharing I think. My 5 yr. old was to pick up the dog’s business in the back-yard…the most dreaded job of all. He had on his spider-man costume that he likes to wear and so I challenged spiderman (not him) to go out in the back-yard and collect “life”. (The 8 yr. old has played a spider-man video game where he collects life to stay alive). At first I received the same lazy-it’s too hard-I can’t do it attitude I’m familiar with. I kept talking as if to spiderman and said I could see how weak he was and didn’t he want to get stronger? I could see the job would be too big for him alone as it hadn’t been done for several days, so i picked up a shovel and began saying I was going to get stronger than spiderman and defeat him…well, that was it, you’ve never seen a little spiderman collect more “life” in so short a time. I know it won’t always work out that way, but it sure beat the “battle” we usually have. I actually had fun and I think he did too.