Life here in the 21st century is full of extremes. We have extreme sports, extreme makeovers, extreme home makeovers, extreme couponing, and a variety of extreme reality shows with extreme challenges. We are surrounded by people exhibiting extreme behavior. Social media feeds this frenzy by giving us a place to truly live our lives out loud. Viral videos feature everything from folks expressing their opinions in crazy rants to all of those over-the-top marriage proposals. Even the stuff of our ordinary daily lives is so often over-exaggerated that we begin to lose our emotional balance. This constant roller coaster of
Category: gratitude
Lately I have been reading a lot about how parents of young children are frustrated by the phrase “enjoy every moment.” They claim that these words, often passed along by parents with grown children, are not realistic and the recipients end up feeling guilty as a result. I understand their frustration. Parenting is exhausting, difficult, and quite overwhelming at times. Not every moment is pleasant. Diaper changes, temper tantrums, projectile vomiting (usually in the middle of the night), runny noses, whining, homework struggles- none of these are particularly enjoyable. So why do I think that this is still good advice?
Once you become a parent, you are a parent for life. Sounds a bit ominous, doesn’t it? Fortunately we don’t have to do the entire job all at once. Just like everything else in life, there are different seasons in parenting. Each season comes with its own set of joys and challenges. Sometimes the challenges leave us longing for the next phase. We fall prey to the “whens” and the “if onlys.” “When the baby comes, then we can really start to get settled.” “If only she were potty trained, then things would be so much easier.” “When he starts
Children are naturally self-centered beings. Because they are always growing and learning, it comes as no surprise that their focus is often primarily on themselves. However, left unchecked, the tendency towards being self-centered quickly leads to selfish and demanding behavior. How do we combat this? I think the best way is by helping our children to develop an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful or appreciative. Learning to be thankful puts the focus on what we have, rather than on what we don’t have. Since whatever we focus on gets bigger, we need to