Mommy Moment…
We all loved going to our Activity Days. They were once a month gathering for all the Homeschool families, In general, they were a day of school that we taught collectively… they were also social days. I think the mother’s enjoyed the day of visiting, just as much as the kids. We studied all sorts of topics, math, science, English, even self-defense. It was up to whoever was teaching that month.
One Activity Day was devoted to reading, specifically the Book-It program that Pizza Hut sponsored. The children were to present a book report on a book they had recently read. The older kids in the group read formal book reports. Some were… well… rather dry. But we had a few families that were more creative than that. One family came with homemade puppets and presented a puppet show for us all. Some kids came in costume and gave the report as if they were the main character from the book. A few acted out a scene from a chapter.
Jenna must have been about 7, maybe 8. She was NOT excited about the prospect of being in front of people. I thought that doing her book report with Kali and Caleb might help. They were going to act out a scene from her story using little dolls. But…
That just didn’t seem fun. So… we created some Biblical clothing for…bananas! I remember what the other characters were, maybe they all were bananas, maybe we through in an apple or orange. I don’t know. What I DO know is that is was fun!
When our kids had something to do that didn’t thrill their hearts, I tried to make it fun if I could. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it’s actually a good life skill. We all have things to do that we just don’t want to do. Learning to add a bit of fun into a chore improves our attitudes and it does the same for children.
They look to us for help and reassurance. If we shout and demand or become frustrated, they learn to be angry and frustrated at us. It can become a terrible downward spiral; in which parent and child both lose. But if we can get creative and find the fun in the midst of an unpleasant situation, we all win. We are draw toward each other, not pushed away.
Be careful, Sweet Mommy. Their little hearts should be handled with grace and love.
Mommy, you got this!!
