I hardly think I have the wisdom of Solomon, but I do ask for it just about daily, especially when it comes to my kids. This past week there was a huge conflict, as there often is, over our cute little kitten..... which kid was going to win as they were both convinced it was their turn with the kitten and were just about pulling it in half. Solomon's wisdom kicked in....
"Ok, I know how to solve this..... get me a knife and I'll cut the kitten in half!"
To my shock, one of them said, "Sure!"
Then I asked, "Which half do you want, the head or the tail?"
The three year old said, "The head," very matter-of-factly.
The five year old shouted out, "Noooo!"
That was when I knew who the true kitten holder should be..... so I passed it on the 5 year old and said to the 3 year old that he must wait his turn for 5 minutes. Perhaps that wasn't true Solomonic wisdom, but it helped solve the conflict at least for that moment!
This past weekend wasn't near as warm, but it saw us all trying to be as productive as possible. I did manage to give the seminar to a smaller group than last year, but I praise God for the 4 women who came and I pray that they will be able to go home and implement the Maxwell's system. Giving the seminar is as much for me as it is for them and is such a good reminder to me as I recall all the reasons I loved their system in the first place.
Teaching children to do chores ends up being only a little about keeping a house clean. It really is more a Bible study on work. Another side benefit is that is makes your children more eligible for marriage! I told the women that I think the subtitle underneath the words, "Managers of Your Chores" should be, "How to make sure you raise a son who knows to how work so their will be someone to marry my daughter"! One of the women quickly added, "Or, how about, raising a daughter so there is someone to marry my son!" Because so many children are not taught how to work, but instead how to play, there is a whole group of women (and men, I suppose) who are single, longing to be married, but (and the reason I pick on the boys is because they tend to play more it seems) the boys they want to marry are too busy playing! I've heard actual radio shows on this about these adult children who just play play play, but in adult form.
I'm very grateful for my upbringing (we did chores everyday after school) and for my husband's upbringing (where he was taught many skills) as I did find someone to marry! All of my siblings did, praise God! But I know this isn't the case in a lot of homes nowadays and I can think of many who have had to either wait and get married later or simply stay single. I'm sure it might seem like my reasoning is a little whacked and that there are other circumstances that keep people single. Obviously I realize that, but I don't think I'm that off-base. We all know the age for getting married is definitely later. My logic isn't always mentioned for sure, but I'm a little suspicious that I might be on to something!
It really makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If Satan can keep Christian marriages from happening then He keeps Christians from being born and so on and so on, but he can't do it by keeping men and women away from each other. He's got to distract them with something that delays marriage or even makes it seem like a ball and chain. So he presents "Play" as the better alternative. This can take many forms. When we're little it's clearly "toys". I want my children to play and I do let them play most of the day, but we do not want that to become their main activity. I purposely limit their play much to their frustration and we have a time of work several times a day, not just in the morning, but after each meal, after school, before bed or whenever I realize I'm doing too much on my own.
As any child gets older, if work wasn't introduced when they were younger, than it'll be very hard to take that appetite away. The Maxwells are big on watching what appetites we feed. The world has figured out there are great adult toys or fun things to do which in and of themselves aren't bad, but if that appetite has never been capped, that is all an adult will want to do - play with their adult toys!
All this to say, giving the seminar was a great reminder for me, too! I told the women that one of the main reasons we don't limit their play is because we don't want to make them unhappy. I always get this big, "Awwww.....!" from the little ones as they really could play all day and if I interrupt their plan, they aren't happy with me. Or, I see them playing so nicely and I wonder to myself, "Do I have to interrupt them? They are playing so nicely!" I didn't used to stop them, I would do it all myself and then later I would wonder why my house was still a mess, dinner wasn't made and the piles of laundry were still there! It's because I cannot do it on my own, so I must stop them, I must interrupt them. It's for their sake and for my mine.
Right now, they are all sleeping. Poor things. I will be waking them up soon. I found that very hard to do at first as they are enjoying their rest and they look so sweet in their beds! I might let the little ones sleep in (though they wake up early on their own anyway), but those big lugs? I wake 'em up now, no problem. I have a bigger picture in mind, to make productive adults. I know my dad is up right now. He gets up at 5 am just about every day. He puts in almost a full day's work before work! Who gets to sleep in as an adult!? What job lets you wake up and come in when you want??? So I figure that I'm just preparing them to be moms and dads who have to get up even if they're tired.
We watched a movie about a bunch of kids who had to wake up every morning at 4 to go pick vegetables from the fields before school. The mom dragged them out of the beds, sometimes to the floor, and off they went in the truck, only to go back to the fields later after school until dark picking again. I warned the kids, "I might just drag you out of bed the way that mom did!" as I've been pretty gentle so far, but sometimes they just don't get out of bed! Perhaps I need to pull them out like this mom.....
Well, on that note, I'm supposed to be waking some of them up now. I'll finish my coffee first.......
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