Not wrapped in a package.

The best Mother's Day gift doesn't come wrapped in a shiny package with a beautiful bow. This morning I got a cute puppy card from my son. His "Mommy" handwriting on the outside envelope, and his Paxton signature inside. With a little help from his daddy interviewing him I received a heartfelt message of why he was thankful for his Mommy. With tears in my eyes for my hubby's creativity and my son's thoughts I was Grateful for it is the most precious gift I could receive from a 4 year old. A thank you from your children comes in the words and actions of the one who calls you mom. That special person that you have created,  loved and spent countless hours giving your time to. When they smile, give back, help others, show a display of something great you taught them. That is what really matters. The package gift or momento may outlive me as a mother but the person they are the person they will become is partially because of me. As a mom(or someone who is acting as mom)  be the best example you can be- give freely- complain less- let them find themselves with your help of course - find your common ground with one another- but be greatful everyday for all they have to offer in return no matter how small. It is priceless. 

Take the extra 2 minutes!

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of things it's easy to get upset about little situations that occur to take more of my time or make me frustrated. Time is precious and sometimes we try to shove too many things in a day. Therefore when things don't go exactly as we think they should occur we often lose sight of overdoing in the first place-the why behind it. Reading my devotional this morning there's always a why behind something-that motivation the drive that causes us to be doing it. My son gets really excited when he can help- at four sometimes it can be frustrating to me especially when I'm in a hurry-everything he does takes just a little bit longer and is pokey to boot! Last night when feeding the animals he wanted to do it all by himself. This shows great interest by him but sometimes I lose sight of what he were trying to accomplish. My husband and I are trying to teach him responsibility and chores- right now he's at the most influential age because he's willing to want to help. I need to realize if we want to keep him interested in helping we need to have more patience when he's helping. He is four not in his 30s. His concept of time and "quick" is not necessarily fully developed! I did let him feed all the animals by himself but he did take up more of my time , and I definitely had to bite my tongue to say anything even though I had other stuff to do. This morning when making coffee and he wanted to help I realized as the coffee grounds were spilled all over the counter that getting upset now at four when He is most willing to help out might just push him to not help as he gets older. Therefore my advice to you as parents is to be as patient as possible let children learn on their own how to do things in their own time and own way don't get upset with the way that they are doing them now at the younger ages because it may just influence them in their attitudes when older. Bite your tongue let them get praised for being helpful and spend that extra two-five minutes it might take now cleaning up their mess when trying to help to have them develop into good and responsible adults once older. -dani