Parenting Gratitude Challenge - Day 5

It's day five of the gratitude challenge. 

Today let's 

Express gratitude your children are supported.

I'm thankful my kids are safe. I'm grateful I'm able to provide them with food and shelter. 

I have a friend you unexpectedly became pregnant, and she was freaking out. Her family was worried she wouldn't be able to support a child. I thought that was ridiculous. When you have children in your care, you do want needs to be done to provide for them. Parents rise to the challenge.

Sometimes I think of things I wish we had. I'd love to have a gardener and a maid, for example. My son would love to have a Nintendo Switch. Sometimes I think, "I really need _____." And then I stop myself. We don't need anything. We are alive and have everything we need. 

Today I encourage you to marvel at all you posses and all you've provided for your children.

Parenting Gratitude Challenge - Day 4

I had a different gratitude in mind for today, but since it's Independence Day I decided to change it up.

Today I encourage you to

Express gratitude your children are independent

My oldest son hasn't needed me since he was about two. It feels nice to be needed. So, this thought in my head that he doesn't need me has caused me pain from time to time.

Today I choose to look at the positive side of his independence. Isn't that what we are working toward as parents? Raising independent adults?

I encourage you to hear in every "no" an independent declaration. I encourage you to see every mess as the artifact of an independent doer. I'd like you to see every refusal as an independent stance from this independent human you are raising.

It's difficult for me when my children don't simply do as I say and comply as I want. Here, I have to remind myself to look at the big picture. I don't want my kids to go in the world as a follower. I want them to question orders from strangers. I want them to make their own decisions.

For me, as my children have gotten older, it has been bittersweet to experience their burgeoning independence. From the first time they no longer wanted to hold my hand to the first time they rode their bikes across town. And I have many more letting go opportunities in front of me. I'm so grateful that parenting offers so many opportunities to practice letting go. I'm so grateful my children are becoming more and more independent.

Parenting Gratitude Challenge - Day 3

I was recently asked to name my top three goals for my children. It was actually pretty easy because it's the same thing I want for myself, and really for all humanity.

1. To be happy
2. To be healthy
3. To have good relationships with others

More than anything else I just want my kids to be happy.

So, for day 3 of my parenting gratitude challenge I encourage you to

Express gratitude your children are happy

Emotions are fluid and change from moment to moment. My children are generally happy people, and I'm so grateful for that. They love to laugh, and play, and be silly. They are content and joyful in a way that I sometimes have to work for as a grown up. It comes naturally to them.

Celebrate your children's happiness. This is hard for me sometimes when I'm not in the mood to hear raucous laughter or excited, elevated voices. But when it's quiet I recall the noise and smile. I'm grateful for the laughter, and the smiles, and the squeals of delight. I'm happy my kids are happy.

Parenting Gratitude Challenge - Day 2

For day 2 of the gratitude challenge I suggest the following:

Express gratitude your children are healthy

I think every parent has the fear for their child’s health. Remember the relief at seeing ten little toes, and ten little fingers? Remember wishing for a girl (or a boy) and then quickly adding “as long as the baby is healthy”?

Celebrate the fact that your children are healthy.

Celebrate the health of your children without comparing it to others.

I’m grateful for my kids’ health. They can walk. They can run. They can climb trees and fences and other high places that make me nervous. They wake up every morning. They breathe in and out all day. It’s kind of a miracle when you stop and think about it.

I encourage you today to stop and think about it.

Parenting Gratitude Challenge - Day 1

I practice gratitude on a daily basis. I read somewhere something to the affect of "You will lose the things in your life that you're not grateful for." I wish I could find the exact quote, but my Google search tried to point me to losing things in body cavities. 

Anyway, I took this quote to heart and everyday remind myself of the things in my life I'm grateful to have and would never want to lose. This, of course, includes my children. In my everyday practice I simply state that I'm grateful to have them.

I was peeking at my blog today and noticed I haven't written anything in a long time, and it's the beginning of a new month, and I thought "Why not do a month long gratitude challenge specifically about being a parent?" Why not.

So, for day 1 I present the following:

Express gratitude for having children 

Some people can't have children and want them. That sucks for them. Some people don't want children. That would suck for us (the human race) if everyone felt that way. We are the lucky ones who have children. It's a different lifestyle we've chosen. Sometimes it seems difficult. Sometimes it seems impossible. And yet we do it. 

Today look at your children and feel gratitude they are in your life. Smile at them and when they ask, "What's wrong with you?" reply "I'm just glad you're here, is all." And if your kids are anything like mine you'll probably get an eye roll or shoulder shrug. 

Do you feel it in your body, though? To me it feels like my heart filling with love the way my lungs fill with air. 

I am so grateful to have children in my life. I'm so grateful to be a mom. 

Go to day 2