Growing Pains....for me AND the children

My children and I have experienced some 'growing pains' this morning.

I was 'hit' this morning with some MAJOR attitude from both my girls. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I was surprised by it.

We have a routine that we have had for a while now. Every morning, each of my children is expected to get up, get dressed, brush their hair and teeth, and make their own bed. These things are all to be done before they play or begin school work. Our current school routine is that they are to go over their AWANA material ~with my help if needed, and do one page in their math workbooks, again with my help if needed to explain a concept or instructions.

This morning, BOTH girls gave me very intense attitude about their AWANA work and math pages!! I was shocked! This has been our routine for over a month now, and this reaction seems to have come out of the blue!!

I said a silent prayer, and was able to CALMLY explain to both girls that we ALL have jobs to do~I then went on to explain a bit about their Daddy's job, how he works hard every day to take care of us, my job of caring for and teaching them, and caring for Daddy and our home. I reminded them that the shopping we were able to do this weekend is a fruit of all of Daddy's hard work, and how we all owe thanks to God for giving Daddy the ability and desire to work to support us, and how God expects us ALL to do our jobs, and to do them without grumbling and complaining. I was able to share Scripture with the girls to 'prove' what I said. I was also able to apologize to them for having failed in the past to be a good example to them. I have been guilty of complaining about my job~doing it, but doing it with a bad attitude. I HATE cooking. How many times have my children seen/heard me make dinner with a stinking, lousy attitude? or do the laundry, or scrub the bathroom, or whatever the job may be?

I could almost SEE the softening of both girls hearts. Oh, how I thank God for that! I shared with them that right now, their jobs are to help take care of our home because we are a family, and we ALL need to pitch in for the comfort of everyone, and to LEARN. Their schoolwork IS their job right now, and it's a job God expects them to do with a good attitude. I then explained to them that any further displays of bad attitude about work would result in EXTRA work.

In times past, this episode would have ruined the whole day for everyone in the house. But praise be to God, my little ones are growing in Him, and so am I. His grace and mercy continue to amaze me.
Blessings,
Vicki