One of my goals as a mom is to teach my children respect. Respect in the biggest form possible -- manners, thoughtfulness, sharing, empathy, listening, appreciation, turn-taking -- and giving. Coincidentally, Lent seems to be the perfect season to encourage the opportunity to give.
So, last week, we attended Ash Wednesday mass (as we do every year), but this year on the way home, we explained that the ashes were a sign of our repentance to God... or in our words to the kids, "a promise to God that we wouldn't do bad things". I didn't anticipate that the kids would fully understand what Lent was all about, but the more we talked about it, the more they listened and were intrigued.
That night we made our commitments. Jarin gave up snacking between meals, I decided to withdraw from caffeine, and the kids agreed to say no to candy for the next 40 days. "Oh, this will last a whole 2 days," I thought to myself! Well, 8 days later and we're doing pretty good (other than Jarin is hungry, I'm tired, and we're both crabby!) The kids though, have been pretty faithful -- but quick to explain that fruit snacks and cookies are not considered candy!
Caden has also added a new sacrifice to his list. He's given up "loving up on girls!" Seriously. At first, wondered if I heard him right, but I did. He's sticking to it too, and barely can give hugs and kisses to mom or grandma until Easter! Still working on explaining that one, but overall, a good start to the "giving" theme. Giving up things we don't need in our lives has been pretty easy. Now, we are on to tackling the conversations about giving more to others....
Today was the perfect, unfortunate segway. We received a letter at home yesterday that Sailor's dad was killed in a snowmobile accident over the weekend. You probably don't know Sailor. I don't either. But she is in Caden's kindergarten class. Five years old with a brother in 4th grade, and now without a father. I had the note from school sitting on the counter this morning when Caden brought it over to me and dropped his head without saying a word. I asked him if he knew what that sheet of information was about and he said yes.
As he stood there silent, I promised him that today after school we would get some cash to contribute to the fund for Sailor and her family. He somberly mumbled, "okay" and continued putting on his coat. As I left the house, I thought about that situation and all the support that I would need if I were in that mother's shoes. I truly can't imagine.
When I came home tonight, I learned that not only did my husband stop on the way to school for cash, but Caden reached into his own piggy bank before leaving and chose to donate $5.00 of his own money too. At that moment, it was obvious that we've been doing the right thing as parents. I was so proud of Cade and the respect that he showed, not only to the poor Schultz family, but to me.
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