Lessons from kids

Hannah: Mommy, when we buy things at the store, do they use the money to help poor people or do they use it to make themselves rich?

Michael (today at CVS): Mommy, this has to be on sale or we can't buy it.

Michael (after I told him to turn the light back on while I was helping Hannah get ready for school): No, when the lights are on it costs a lot of money and hurts the Earth. We have to save the Earth and save money.

Hannah (after she lied about how she cut her finger--which was on a soda can she wasn't supposed to have): She wrote this note: "I am so sorry I lied to you."

Hannah (on a previous occasion of disobeying): "I am so sorry I thisobad"...(that says disobeyed). She always illustrates her letters and this one has her with a sad face and me yelling at her. After a month, it is still on my refrigerator.

I find it funny that a 6-year old can apologize with such simplicity yet adults have to find someone to blame (often the very person they should be apologizing to) for all their inappropriate actions, words and wrongdoings.

The other day Hannah cleaned her room unexpectedly without any prompting from me. When I went to her room and saw how "shiny" it was, I told her I'd have to find her a special treat. She said, "Mommy, a treat would be nice, but even if you can't find a treat, having a great family is enough of a treat." Either she is a great little manipulator or I am a sucker, but I wanted to give her the biggest present ever.

When we were shopping for her water bottle for kindergarten, she asked if we could get 2 water bottles to which I immediately replied, "No! These water bottles are $15. She said, "Mommy, I don't want 2 for myself. I want to give one to my teacher in case there is a little girl in my class whose mommy can't buy her a water bottle. Then my teacher would have one for her." I'm telling you...how can I argue with this child?

When Hannah turned 4, she donated her hair to Locks of Love. About a month later (fortunately after we had some professional pictures taken), she cut her hair all the way to her scalp with safety scissors. I took her to DooLittles the next morning. The stylist looked at me and said, "What are you going to do?" I was like...What are YOU going to do? to which she replied that there was nothing she could do. She cut all the remaining hair as short as possible and suggested I buy very wide headbands (at a cost of $10 each which I gladly paid) and come back in 3 months. By then her hair was just long enough to make a little water spout in the front--kind of like you would for a 4 month old not a 4 year old! All this because my little Hannah wanted to give some more hair to another sick little girl. We had many a conversation about where we get our hair cut. It took a full year for her hair to grow out enough to make a cute very short bob. Now that she is 6 1/2, I am anxiously awaiting the day we can get this hair cut. Hannah wants me to find the little girl we saw at Wendy's last summer who had just lost all her hair.
No one ever leaves our house empty handed. If I don't give them something, Hannah will chase them out the door to give them something even if it is a picture she has drawn.
Hannah's kindergarten teacher said she was the most spiritual child she has ever taught. I hope her spirit doesn't get broken as she grows up. There is so much that is wrong in our world.

A few weeks ago, I had a dispute with a friend's husband which resulted in him yelling at me, my 3 year old crying uncontrollably and him yelling louder so I could hear him over Michael's crying. I was able to end the argument pretty quickly, but my kids certainly aren't accustomed to this type of yelling. Later in the day, Hannah asked if Mr. ________ loves Jesus and that if he really loved Jesus why was he yelling at me that morning.

Kids are smart! They are perceptive! We can wear crosses around our necks, put fish on our cars, and go to church every week, but what they see is how we treat others. The way we as adults behave is the programming we give our children. It is why my husband exercises even though he hates it, it is why he reads a non-fiction book every week even though he is dyslexic, it is why we serve the poor even though our schedules are already busy, and so on....how are you programming your kids? What lessons are they teaching you?