When my girls were younger, there were many things they had to be taught to do versus just soaking it in from bearing witness.
For example, tying their shoes. I don't know about you, but my kids didn't learn to tie their shoes just by living in a house where shoes were being tied. We had to show them repeatedly, and patiently, giving them tricks to remember the exact steps and praising their success.
I would like very much to not talk about the fact my children -- both officially middle school students -- will wander around with their shoelaces flapping in the wind. (In fact, just the other day, I noticed the 13-year-old had shoe strings untied, so I stood on one of them while she wasn't paying attention. When she started to walk away and was abruptly snatched back to my side, do you know I didn't even have to say "TIE YOUR SHOES" ?!! She instinctively understood the message. Parenting can be so rewarding.)
What's that phrase about leading a horse to water? Yeah.
So this may be a giant waste of my time, but this summer, I am spending a little extra time teaching them things that to me seem intuitive, but really aren't. Things like:
How to clean out and organize a junky drawer.
How to clean a bathroom.
How to dust and vacuum a living room.
How to organize your time so you get to the fun stuff ... while making sure you get chores done, too.
How to make a bet for maximum return without losing your pants. (The three of us played this game last night while Jake is out of town. We love it. I did a fantastic job teaching them, obviously, since one of them beat me handily. Look out Vegas, here we come.)
As evidenced by the photo above, there are some common-sensical items that are to be covered, too.
Anywho, if I'm not posting quite as often this summer, please do forgive me. I'm trying to teach the future generation that very often, that missing swimsuit can be located in the suitcase you forgot to unpack. It's very time consuming.
XO --
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