Aidan’s lesson on GRATITUDE

Today, Aidan is learning a very valuable lesson. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes it’s hard to teach my kids life lessons because I just want them to be happy and have fun and consequences are not always fun. I’m always really proud of the fact that we try our best not to spoil our kids. We don’t buy them anything they want and try to make them earn things they really want as far as toys go.

 

It has been a tough road since Eva was born. The kids have had to learn to be more independent and have spent many days entertaining themselves. They have been so great about not complaining and just going with the flow, we have been blessed in that way. Rich has made it a point to take the kids out for an all day fun day on Saturdays. He takes them to movies, out to eat, treats them to ice cream, the humane society to see animals and just about anywhere they want to go that there aren’t too many germs. They usually come home with a new shirt or shoes that they wanted. He loves to do it and he really is good about making it a fun day for them. The girls are always very expressive with their thank you’s and hugs and kisses of gratitude but we have one ungrateful little boy that has said the wrong thing one too many times.

 

At the end of a day out with Rich, after going out to see the Lego movie, eating dinner, getting new shoes and going to the humane society, Aidan said to Rich, “This has been a very boring day!” Rich was NOT happy. We both tried to teach him what gratitude mean and how he should be grateful for all of the fun things that he got to do and all he could say was that he was “just kidding”…right.

 

Last week, Rich bought a family pass to the aquatic center so that he could take the kids to their fun indoor water park. It was a big decision for us because it wasn’t cheap but we did decide that they deserve it because they have been so good about being cooped up for so long. Rich took them there last Saturday and they LOVED it! Last night, Rich and I were talking about what he was going to take them to do on Saturday and he decided he was going to take them to a movie, out to eat and then to the aquatic center. When Aidan asked Rich where they were going to go and Rich told him the aquatic center, Aidan’s response was, “Awwwww!” That was the last straw for both Rich and I. We talked and talked and talked to him about gratitude until we were blue in the face but sometimes it’s not a lesson you learn through words but actions.

 

Today is Saturday. Rich is out with the girls watching a movie and then he is going to take them to the aquatic center. Aidan is currently outside cleaning up the backyard.

The rule was that he couldn’t watch tv or play the wii and he had to entertain himself. No fun with mommy. So far he has read books, worked on a math worksheet, snuck about 5 minutes of The Incredibles(and got in trouble), cleaned his room, cleaned the back yard, and dressed up. He’s bored and it’s good for him.

I can really be such a softy when it comes to my kids and had to have Rich remind me why we are doing this and the valuable lesson that this will hopefully be for him. I wanted to do what I usually do and just threaten to not let him go but then let him go in the end, hoping that the threats taught him his lesson.

What I hope that he gets out of this is that he will always be grateful when we take him out to do something fun. Being a mean mom is not fun but necessary.