Monday, April 18, 2011

Make a List Monday**April 18, 2011

Welcome to the week!

To re-cap here's where we've been doing the last two Mondays. The first Monday we asked:
Five things you hope your children will say when they are grown and are asked to recall their childhood.

The next Monday we said we'd:
**Pick ONE of your statements.
**Make a list of five concrete things you could do this week (or in a day) that would help make that goal a reality


How did you do? Tricky? No problem?
I have to admit that my biggest challenge was to pick ONE of the things to focus in on...I wanted them all so much!

In the end I picked:

That love was abundant...our parents loved each other, us, and others whole heartedly...the love was completely unconditional and shown not just in word, but in action.

The five concrete ways I could think of to make it a reality were:
1. Be sure to speak kindly to (and about) my spouse in front of my children....even when I don't think they are listening!
2. Hug and kiss my spouse and kids as often as appropriate.
3. Speak as gently to my spouse and children as I do to people outside my home...particulary when I am frustrated with their behavior.
4. Include my children in the decisions to help other people and explain that this is done out of love and the desire to treat them with care.
5. Do things out of service to my children and spouse. Specifically: refill batteries promptly when asked by my children, do laundry without complaining, cheerfully provide meals for them.

How did I do on these this week? Well, it's easy to be happy with your spouse when they live 2.5 hours away, but I didn't do too badly on the other things, either...having only five helped a lot! I do have to say that I continue to need to work on speaking gently..my tongue gets sharp when I'm over-tired, stressed, or frustrated...and I want desperately to bridle that in!

The 'new' list is:
Five Things you Want to Do/Experience This Summer?
Share below!

1 comment:

Randi said...

1) Spend a lot of time outside - at the park & pool (because the twins are finally old enough that I don't have to be at their sides the entire time!), and of course camping!
2) Visit a zoo with our kids, they will LOVE seeing animals in person that we've only seen in books.
3) A Mommy & Daddy date trip to Valleyfair, I haven't been on a rollercoaster since 2006 and I really want to!
4) Landscape the front of our house after it's done being re-sided and reshingled.
5) Continue with my decluttering & purging throughout our house...even going through stuff like childhood mementos & deciding what really needs to be kept.