I snapped this pic the other day. My husband asked what I took a picture of. I told him I snapped a pic of where we are right at this very moment. This picture is worth 1,000 words.
This is a small piece of our family room. It is over our desk and visible from the kitchen, the family room and the dining room. It sure does tell a story. The story of where we are right this moment.
We are learning to be kind.
I wrote the words Be Kind on our chalkboard the day that the boys were not being kind to each other and thought it would be a great reminder for our son that is learning to read, to look up and remember to be kind. I need that reminder too, when I am tired or frustrated, I, too, need to BE KIND.
We are trying to make it each day and get through the daily grind.
Some days feel like that you just can’t wait for the kids to go to bed, and you can get through the day. Breakfast, out the door for school, work, home, unpack from school, dinner, play time, bath, bedtime and whew, you collapse in bed, just to get up and do it all again.
We are learning to tell the truth.
This nugget of wisdom made the chalkboard after our sweet child lied to us to save himself from a discipline. A lecture accompanied the chalky fingers as a sweet boy was sitting in time out. Telling the truth is so important, for everyone and at all times. This will stay on this board for a long time, as the teen years will be here before we know it and the reminder to tell the truth will be a foundation we lay down for our children.
We are trying a new discipline technique or rather positive reinforcement with chip jars (huge shout out to a Sister City Mom Collective site idea).
I am always learning. The jars in the picture with a side bowl of poker chips reminds me of that. Always keep learning and always keep trying. After reading an idea on another Mom Collective site, I fell in love with the idea of positive reinforcement and using a chip jar to reward the good things I see from my kiddos.
One major rule?
Mom can’t take any chips out for bad behavior, teaching me that my positive words are far more important than my negative ones. I sent on the post to three of my friends to share what I am learning and help encourage them to keep learning and trying.
We are doing crafts and educational projects on these snow days to keep our little one learning.
Pandemic and then snow days as the cherry on the top of the parenting sundae lead me to more educational crafts and projects than ever before. My sweet mother and law bought our son a subscription to those cool boxes to do each month. The sweet lantern in the pic was one of those projects, complete with constellation that he designed. We’ve done science experiments, painting and are waiting for our volcano to dry before we paint it and make it explode.
We are wearing masks.
We are still wearing masks and hang them here on occasion. Hopefully some day when I look back on this picture, I think, that is crazy we had to do that and it seems like a distant memory. This is wear we are now, wearing masks at school and work and when we go out an about in our community. After almost a year since we first heard of the ‘Rona. Wow, this picture will bring back this memory of where we were, and how far we have come.
We are trying out necklaces for our sensory sensitive child.
Our son has ADD/ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder, so the necklaces hang there, so I don’t forget to grab one every morning as we rush out the door in our dash for the daily grind. We have tried every kind, some work better than others and my hope is that we will pair them down, and find one that helps him not blurt, not chew on his clothes and help him to concentrate when he takes that math test that we have studied for all week.
We are learning that coke and coat sound similar, but our totally different words.
My son said he wanted a coke, I heard he wanted a coat, so thinking he was cold, I brought him a sweatshirt. The look on his face was priceless. He wanted a COKE, and made sure to enunciate very loudly that he had said he wanted a COKE not a COAT! To the chalkboard we went, so I could show him the different words. Learning to read has become a favorite of his, so I thought this would be a good time to show him the difference. We sounded out each letter of the words and laughed that I brought him a coat instead of a coke. I left the words up there, so it could serve as a reminder. That was weeks ago, but I often look up there and am so excited that he can read and know the difference.
This is the picture of us, the “B” family. This picture is worth 1,000 words because it is what we are in the thick of this very moment. We won’t always be here. The picture will change, the chalkboard will change with new words and new motto’s and the hooks will hold keys and other important items. The necklaces will be replaced and the masks will be thrown out.
The 1,000 words that were in this picture will change to a new 1,000 words that continue to tell the story of who were then and who we are becoming.
Listen and learn from these pictures that are worth 1,000 words, they are YOUR story.
