Today we went to Sam’s Club for the cheap family lunch aka hot dogs with drink or pretzels or pizza. This is pretty much the only time our kids get soda so it’s a huge treat for them. I could live without the hot dogs forever, but this is how we bribe our kids on yard work day Saturdays.
I look over and see Brooke’s giant soda leaking out of the bottom and pooling all over the table. The remainder of it is on the floor. Massive puddles of root beer. She’s crying. We kept our heads and I told everyone to grab napkins. Happily, Sam’s Club is a bulk store so they have thousands. We were soaking up all the soda when I looked around and thought, “Wow, these kids are awesome!” Nobody got mad at Brooke. (She’s still crying.) Nobody told her to clean it up herself. William was under the table scrubbing away. Hailey and Spencer were soaking it up and throwing the napkins away. It was almost an out of body experience.
I thought, “Man, people must be thinking: there is a super helpful family.” And I almost laughed out loud. Our family isn’t always so helpful or excited to jump in but it was a magical moment when I was living the dream of everyone helping happily. A nice lady stopped us as we were leaving and said that she appreciated us cleaning up. She worked at a restaurant where families leave huge messes and don’t clean them up. She said it was refreshing to see a family working together. I told her to tell that to my kids so they would remember that when we were doing chores at home. We both laughed and said thank you and we went on.
I’m not saying this because our family is awesome. In fact, lots of the time I have to repeat myself, tell the kids to not whine and remind them of our family goals. But this gave me hope. Things must be going right somewhere! I guess all the years of teaching, encouraging and reminding have done something. For me and for them. It is nice to see fruit from our labors. Maybe our family doesn’t always act like this but the point is, we are trying and they are learning. And that is the point of this whole crazy journey!
So, all you parents out there who are at the beginning of all this or who are trying to improve something (aren’t we all), don’t lose heart and don’t give up. All the small things you are doing today will add up to big things in the future. They might not seem big, but they really are. They will mold and shape your children and your family. You will taste the fruit from those small seeds you planted and they will be delicious.
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