Here’s a few little examples from our kitchen just this week. We were having burritos and my children kept handing their tortillas with fillings to me so that I could wrap them up for them. By about the 3rd burrito, it hit me…”Why am I doing this? They could be doing it themselves if I just took the time to stop and show them. After all, I won’t be around to fold their burrito forever.” So we had a burrito folding lesson right on the spot. Boy were they proud of themselves when they realized that they really could do it on their own.
How about when my son walked in and said that he wanted a piece of fruit. I said, “Okay, so get a piece. Why are you involving me?” He responded with, “Well, I need you to cut it.” So it hit me again that he was old enough. Why was I still cutting fruit for him? He had cut enough things under my supervision while making dinner so I knew I could trust him. So I gave him the green light and it’s amazing what he could do for himself when I just equipped him. In fact he became the “Official Fruit Slicer” after that and made sure everyone in the house had sliced fruit. Alright! One less thing I have to worry about while I’m driving and one more thing he’s equipped to do when he takes over the wheel.
Since we’ve taken a pit stop at the kitchen, here’s another thought…what am I doing today to train my children to be able to cook for themselves? Man is that a tough one or what? Most of the time I just want to be done with the stinkin’ meal because everyone is hungry or I’ve got to have the meal on the table at a certain time so that my husband can eat and run back out the door to a meeting. Frankly, with the way our schedule is this Fall, maybe it’s me and kids who are in a hurry to eat because we are on our way somewhere. Anyway, the point is that in order for my children to know how to cook someday I have to teach them. Imagine that! So I have to start small. Maybe it’s just slicing olives. Maybe it’s just tossing the ingredients of a salad into a bowl. Maybe it’s helping alongside me as we make some muffins. True confessions here…the first thing I taught my daughter to make at age 7 just in case anything ever happened to me was Frito Boats. I figured that if she and her brothers could just wrangle open the chili can somehow, they’d be good to go! So much for training my children to eat healthy, huh? Maybe I better work on that one! 🙂
this reminds me of Angela Thomas and what she said about her four kids.
i think this is huge for kids… and good for adults to remember. kids are so dependent because they can’t fend for themselves. good call.
-Karen
Brandy,
I love to read what you write. You’re a very talented writer and I’ll keep encourage you to write that book. A great idea with a blog for training…maybe I’ll do one too some day. I’ll keep looking for new posts and just want to say that the title is great!!! Keep up the good work and tell some MOPS mums to look at it whenever you’re teaching them!
Brandy,
Being someone that is not yet a mother but wants to be one someday these last few blogs have been good to read. I hear a lot of stories working with Ronda, Mel, Jane, and Debi and I take home a lot of different perspectives. This is good for me! I didn’t grow up in a Christian home or a stable home so all the help I can get all the better! Now, I could use this even as the 5th grade girls bible study leader. There are many times when they ask me to do something for them and I usually give in and do it. Aren’t I supossed to teach them these things? Anyway. I’ll keep reading, and keep getting perspectives from you who I respect a lot as a person and mother.