What Are You Waiting For?

Can you imagine living with your kids all week long and not showering them with love, hugs, kisses, tickles and laughs? Me either....but I hear it happens.

Sometimes we (adults) let life get in the way. We worry about money, or the lack of money...we worry about the economy...or the lack of economy...we stress about our work, their homework, making dinner, cleaning house, kid chores and more, all while ignoring our most precious commodities. Little ones don't care about material things. Little ones care about time spent with YOU. They want to know that they are important to YOU. How do you talk to them? Are you short and sarcastic or warm and loving? I have been told by a very smart child that kids are always watching. They see the real you and love you in spite of your ups and downs. Kids are resilient and so forgiving. They just want to be loved.

In our house we do Heart checks. If one of the kids seems a little blue, or grumpy or temporarily forgets how to play nice, we stop and do a Heart check. Sometimes the hurt comes out right away and sometimes it takes a little investigating but we always get to the HEART of the matter. Sometimes it is something that happened during the week and they have held on to it for days and sometimes they just need a hug. One time Eli was grumpy because a kid in his class had told him to shut up three times. By the time we talked about it he had been holding on to it for at least 4 hours! After discussing it we decided that it needed to be Undone... so we did a rewind and played it backwards...in the hopes of Undoing it...so to Undo SHUTUP...you make it PUTUHS. We said it together 3 times (like the original offense) and he had a big grin on his face by the time we were done. His countenance changed while we had fun trying to sound out the Undone word...and it fixed the problem.

Each of our kids feels love in different ways and we are always learning how to fill their heart with what they need. Sometimes its a quiet conversation, making their favorite meal, practicing music, chasing, tickling, laughing, hugging, wrestling, eating dinner together, turning the tv off, reading together, listening, more listening and just letting them know you love them no matter what they do. So, if you haven't taken the opportunity to shower them with love today...what are you waiting for?