Very recently, I was in a doctor’s office waiting room. As most people I was looking through my phone checking my email, when a young mother came in with two children about the ages of six and eight. I’m very aware because I have grandchildren just a little younger than this. As the mother was signing her name at the receptionist’s counter, the children were running around the office out of control. The mother looked up from signing her name to suggest that they sit down, the children continued, NOT taking her suggestion. The first thing that came to my mind was the safety of any patient that might be using a cane or a walker. These children could have cause someone to fall very easily-imagine that scenario. I have a mother who walks with a walker and for an older person to fall is a huge deal, that is on my mind every time I take my Mom out. The mother sat down again, suggested the kids sit down by her, but they continued. These children did not appear to have special needs from my observation. They just appeared to have not been trained as to how to behave. It wasn’t long after that that the receptionist called the mother and her children back to see the doctor. When the receptionist came back, she said to me, very aware that I was observing the situation,
“You do understand why I took them back before you don’t you?” I said,
“Yes, I do and I would’ve done the same thing.”
In situations like that, it’s totally the parent who is at fault. We see children in the news today out of control and sometimes even law-enforcement is brought in. I saw a fireman on the news recently who was requesting the parents teach their children how to behave. He was being interviewed about a situation where the fire department was called when teenagers had turned on the hydrants. The parents are a child’s first teacher and any actions or consequences from a child’s behavior fall back on the parent. For example, if a child runs into the street and gets hit by a car, it is the parent, who has to care for that child if they are harmed or injured. And consider the person driving the car, they too have to deal with the consequences of the parent not teaching that child to pay attention and listen. I always felt that one of the first things that was important to teach a child when they gained an understanding of language, was that they needed to obey to the parent when the parent said come to me or stop the child needed to be able to do that, best example of why, is the one just given, a child running into the street or into traffic. Having good behavior could actually save a child’s life. I have said this before in Teaching Tuesday, posts if a parent does not have control of the child’s behavior by the time they are five it’s very difficult to regain it. If you do have control of your child’s behavior. parenting can be very manageable from the age five and on, in fact, it should be. Your children should be a blessing to . I am not saying there won’t be problems or hiccups along the way, but your children in general should be a blessing to you. Don’t make it harder on yourself than you need to. Set the groundwork early on and you will reap the benefits…
I have written about the benefits of reading to children in the past, and we all know the benefits of reading to children. I thought of that last night as I began reading a book sent to me as a gift from a Chief Friend. I had a good day but a busy day and I looked forward to cleaning up dinner, getting a shower,getting into my pajamas and getting then into bed with the new book, We Might Just Make It Afterall, about the longtime friendship, business partnership between Kate Spade and her best friend from college. I read the inside cover the forward the prologue and I truly enjoyed my time reading last night. It was so good to really get into a book. I enjoy reading and I read a lot, but to have read the reviews on this book, remember when it came out and when it arrived in the mail yesterday as a gift, , I was so excited to start reading. It reminded me of summer reading as a child. I would save my babysitting money to buy Nancy Drew books and I so look forward to the days that my mom would take me to the second floor at Hudson‘s, where the book department was at the time, to pick up my next Nancy Drew book. I also remember anticipating being read to, like in the fourth grade, when Mrs. Kipp introducing me to the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. She read Little House in the Big Woods to us, the first in the series, and I looked forward to every day after lunch when she would read a chapter. I didn’t want her to stop. That experience inspired me to read the whole series, and I bought that series of books too, also at Hudson‘s with my babysitting money.
I really enjoyed reading and collecting Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene, same with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Here is the book authored by Kate Spade’s best friend and business partner. This one is very hard to put down, for me.
Children normally won’t just naturally get excited about a book you have to inspire them. It means talking a book up. It means making reading to them a special time- I actually did a Teaching Tuesday about that a few weeks ago-it involves you doing your own little commercials for a book. Maybe you tell them about someone special and then you go to the library or order a book about that person and read it to them. I recently came across a book about the French mime artist, Marcel Marceau. It is on my list to read. He himself,was the author of several books and after I finish Kate Spade‘s book, I plan to dive into those. Who knows talking about reading may inspire you to do some reading on your own and what a fine example that would be for your children; win/win… A day when you get to reading for enjoyment is a great day 🍎
