Cold, Yep

I’m watching a Yoga video, while I drink coffee and read on my laptop about how cold it’s going to be today.

In theory, I’ll be doing Yoga later and also running on the treadmill. Its weird not being at work. This means that I can get some things done today, or spend quality time with my kids, or get exercise. The TV is totally calling to me, though. The TV is like, “Psst, did you check Hulu for new episodes of This is Us? How about The Good Doctor?” Then, my brain is like, “Come on TV, I’m not watching you until night.”

My kids are more productive and motivated then I’ll ever be. As I sit here, Sam is in the other room, using Duolingo program to learn Greek. He read the whole series of Percy Jackson books and decided he would like to learn the language of the characters in the story. Sam’s a year ahead in math now. I read this book called, “Punished by Rewards” that talks about how praising kids too much takes way their inner drive to do things. The more Sam succeeds, the more I remind myself not to make a big deal out of it. The idea is to give attention to the qualities that bring about success. Like, “You are working hard!” and “That looks interesting. What are you finding out?” rather than “88% done with the 5th grade?! Wholey Sh*%!!!”

The thing about parenting is that no one gets it completely right. My main hope is that my kids will be better parents than me, and their kids will be better parents than them, and so on “world without end, Amen.”

Also, I think its good that we are all raising our kids in different ways. That is what works for crops and its what works for people as well. One of the things I’ve talked about before is how watching a documentary on the Dustbowl changed my life, so I’ll just give the short version of what I learned: we need each other.

Take some time to listen to someone without judgement. It is possible to see the world through someone else’s eyes, and not lose your own values. There is so much we can learn for each other.

Hugs!

Terra