I have had a thought recently that I have decided to share.  It doesn't exactly make me feel like Mom Of the Year and maybe that is why I hesitate to share it.  But I can't hold it in any longer.  So, here it goes... I am sorry my sweet children, but it is not my job to make every moment of your life seem like a party.  These are the basic words that I stated to my three adorable children.  We were in the middle of our morning lessons and everyone was acting as though they were either being tortured or bored to death.  At that moment it dawned on me that children of this generation feel the need to always be entertained.  I am sure it is not ALL children but I would bet the majority are growing up this way. I am the one to blame in our household.  I love making lessons fun and creative.  I love everything about Pinterest.  But could it be that all of my attention to detail, craftiness, and fun has effected my children?  Of course it has.  It has effected them in both positive and negative ways.  We have made amazing memories around crafts.  I adore the pictures I have taken centered around creativeness.  However, when we are in the thick of things (i.e. spelling words), they need to learn to just get'r done.  We can learn spelling words by stair writing, color writing, shouting the letters while doing jumping jacks, etc.  But at some point the words just have to be flat out memorized and sorry my sweet child that is just plain B-O-R-I-N-G. I want my kids to enjoy life but I also want them to understand that sometimes you just have to roll your sleeves up and get the work (the not so fun) work done.  It is this type of work that creates perseverance.  Anyone can keep going when things are fun.  It takes real commitment and dedication to finish something that is not wrapped in a pretty package or attached to a prize.  After all, it is the hard tasks that create character and allow one to grow.  I want to be the one to teach these lessons to my children.  If they can learn perseverance with something small (i.e. spelling words), they will be more equipped for larger challenges which come with each stage of life.  The real world will not be so concerned about making everything seem as though it jumped off the pages of Pinterest.  I want to make sure that know that before leaving our cozy little nest. We will still have tons of fun and creativity in our household, but we are also going to stress the importance that sometimes you just have to push through and get things done. "Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."    James 1:2-4 "...let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us."    Hebrews 12:1 I am sorry my sweet child, it is not my job to make everything in your life fun.  However, it is my job to love you unconditionally and to teach you faith, perserverance, and true character. Love,
Mom