Lesson #5
They really are listening!
We spend a lot of time trying to instill kindness and good manners in our kids. Prompting "Please" and "thank you" is an automatic for us on a daily basis. We teach the Golden Rule and always remind our kids to especially be kind to their siblings.
It can be exhausting to referee the bickering and constant arguing between the kids. Someone is always wrong and there is a lot of tattling in our house. I often wonder if they will ever listen and start treating one another with respect and kindness. Well, this weekend, I finally got a glimpse of just how much Max is starting to internalize our push for kindness.
During his 6th birthday party, Max was very busy joking around and playing with his best buddies from school. Other than his Rossman pals, the only other kids at the party were his little brother and sister. Naturally, Zoey automatically felt left out, being a four-year-old that didn't know any of the other big kids other than her brother. I witnessed two of the kindest gestures I have ever seen from Max on this day. As kids pushed forward to sit by their best buddies for the group photo, Zoey instantly began to tear up. Seeing her sadness, Max grabbed her arm and pulled her to the front to sit next to him. She immediately smiled and felt so special. Just a few minutes later, Max made his way through the other kids to get a goody bag for his little sister, running over to give it to her as the other kids pushed to get theirs. Neither of these gestures were prompted by us. Max did it out of the kindness of his heart. We praised him multiple times on the way home and bragged about his kindness to instill how important this was.
I know these kids will always bicker and have their struggles with sibling rivalry, but it sure is encouraging to see that they really are listening and soaking up our wise ways of parenting!
They really are listening!
We spend a lot of time trying to instill kindness and good manners in our kids. Prompting "Please" and "thank you" is an automatic for us on a daily basis. We teach the Golden Rule and always remind our kids to especially be kind to their siblings.
It can be exhausting to referee the bickering and constant arguing between the kids. Someone is always wrong and there is a lot of tattling in our house. I often wonder if they will ever listen and start treating one another with respect and kindness. Well, this weekend, I finally got a glimpse of just how much Max is starting to internalize our push for kindness.
During his 6th birthday party, Max was very busy joking around and playing with his best buddies from school. Other than his Rossman pals, the only other kids at the party were his little brother and sister. Naturally, Zoey automatically felt left out, being a four-year-old that didn't know any of the other big kids other than her brother. I witnessed two of the kindest gestures I have ever seen from Max on this day. As kids pushed forward to sit by their best buddies for the group photo, Zoey instantly began to tear up. Seeing her sadness, Max grabbed her arm and pulled her to the front to sit next to him. She immediately smiled and felt so special. Just a few minutes later, Max made his way through the other kids to get a goody bag for his little sister, running over to give it to her as the other kids pushed to get theirs. Neither of these gestures were prompted by us. Max did it out of the kindness of his heart. We praised him multiple times on the way home and bragged about his kindness to instill how important this was.
I know these kids will always bicker and have their struggles with sibling rivalry, but it sure is encouraging to see that they really are listening and soaking up our wise ways of parenting!
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