Wise Family: Star Sunday

WARNING: Do not read this blog if your children are perfect angels who are well behaved all the time. It may contain controversial topics, mature themes, and adult language. Do read this blog if your kids are too big for their britches and you are a parent who has ever had a challenging day, week, month or year.

I knew that would make you keep reading! Let's see, where do I begin?

The good, the bad and the ugly: No, I'm not talking about my hockey parents. (That's a topic for another blog). I'm talking about Maya's language. "Miss Manners" has learned to say "What!" when she is called, "shut up!" and "go away!"

Yesterday I got a Hanes catalogue in the mail. Chris was looking at it today and said "That magazine is disgusting!" I said "Why? Because it has pictures of bras?" He said "Yeah! And some of the pictures look like they are having C-E-X!"

I was going to log on the blog how many days in a row I got the kids to school on time. But they were late on day 2. And that was because Matt took them to school on day 1. I'm not going to blame it on the fact that Chris was refusing to go to school. I told him if he wasn't dressed by 8am, I was carrying him to the car in his pajamas. So at 8:05 he ran downstairs to get dressed. I told him it was Maya's first day of school so if he didn't want to go to school he had to sit in the car or in the office. He chose the office. After several attempts from his classmates and the principal to cajole him into going to class, he kept returning to the back room in the office. So he came home with me after Maya was done with preschool. Chris has never been big on school. He would rather get a job. He loves to work. So I made him take down the Christmas tree. He can build a fire in the fireplace all by himself. He even chops his own kindling now.

I bought my first "Real Simple" magazine today. I've avoided that magazine like I avoid trendy yoga wear. I figured the first step in simplifying my life was to NOT spend my money on something else that I have to take to the recycling bin at the end of the month. Everyone tells me all that stuff ends up it the landfill anyway. But I was seduced by the titles on the cover as I stood in line at the grocery store. "Feel calmer now: 20 essential lists to organize your life". I fall for organizational self-help guides like overweight people fall for fad diets. I even signed up for a seminar next month that promises to teach me how to get more done in less time.

I know what you Type A people are thinking: Maybe you'd get more done if you'd spend less time blogging and looking for old friends on Facebook. The point of accomplishing more in less time is so that I CAN spend more time blogging and looking for my old friends on Facebook.

I just got done reading a book called Confessions of a Slacker Mom. It's not about what you think. It's about a different approach to parenting. Like trusting your instincts instead of relying on the latest experts (in case you haven't noticed, expert opinions change like fashion trends). Slacker Moms do not believe in buying all the latest toys for their kids. They believe in kids learning to entertain themselves. Slacker moms are really into natural consequences. Slacker moms do not try to childproof the whole house. They teach their children to avoid danger. Afterall, the world is not childproof.

I still read the expert books, but I pick and choose and do what makes sense to me. Sometimes my instincts mislead me. For example, for the past 6 months, my instincts told me that if I ignore my boys' bad behavior, it would go away. "They're going through an adjustment phase" my instinct said. Well, now I have three children behaving badly instead of two. Although I may not buy her philosophy lox, stock and bagel, it's still a worthwhile book. I probably don't need any encouragement to slack off any more than I do already. So now I'm reading Super Nanny. Wish me luck.

Today was Star Sunday. On Epiphany at our church, we pick a paper star out of a basket. The star has one word on it. You can make what you want of it. Consider it something you need to work on, or a gift. I was hoping for "courage". Instead I got "Abundance". I don't know what to make of that. I know I have abundance already. Maybe I have an abundance of courage. I overheard the ladies talking at during fellowship hour. One said, "I learned never to pray for patience, because God will TRY you." Then I remember what God, played by Morgan Freeman, said in the movie Evan Almighty. If I pray for courage, what God will give me is the opportunity to be courageous.