What to do, what to do? "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons"~ Deuteronomy 4:9-10
Growing up in this day and age where we are consumed with technology and the next latest thing that hits the market or that is posted on social media, we pulled away from teaching our children so many of the traditional things we learned as children that were passed down.
“Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons"~ Deuteronomy 4:9-10
When I Grew Up.....
Do you or have you ever found yourself saying these words to your children? I'm most certain I am not the only one that has raveled these words from my tongue, only to possibly be abruptly interrupted by a child saying..." We don't live in those times anymore mom". The more and more I thought about it, not only did I know that my child was right, but it made me realize that part of the issue was many of the things we learned as children were no longer taught in our day and age. They weren't forgotten, hence the stories we may all once in a while bring up to our children, but instead they were swept under the rug. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind ring a bell?
The push and pull of everyday life can get so monotonous, tiring and draining, even to the point that most parents by the weekend just want to find a quiet moment to themselves. They yearn to get some peace and quiet without the yelling, fussing, screaming and breaking up fights every 5 minutes of the day. Or how about being able to sit in front of the television with your phone in your hand (or close by) and the remote in your other hand. Maybe a glass of wine to sip on ladies, an ice cold tea or lemonade or guys, a nice cold beer to drink, or your favorite soft drink and do absolutely nothing? Am I right or am I right? Our lives have become so busy....everyday we are rushing from the moment we jump ( yes, I said jump, maybe crawl is better or ease our way) out of bed. We tell the kids to make a bowl of cereal or better yet, " you can eat breakfast at school". They might get a glass of juice, on the way out the door as we grab our coffee mug in one hand, bagel in our mouth, purse falling off the shoulder and try and figure out how to get the keys out of your purse to lock the door without dropping something. We get in the car and sit in traffic for an hour and try to find ways to finagle through the open pockets of cars on the highway, so we won't be late a 3rd time this week to work. Then we sit in a morning meeting where we daydream of being back in our beds. And we do this 5 days a week, every week of our lives. No wonder we sweep tradition under the rug. We no longer have the time or the energy to sit down and teach our kids the fundamentals of things. If we do happen to get a quick how-to-lesson in while driving in the car, we hope and pray it does not go in one ear and out the other, that is if we are lucky enough to turn around and see that our child didn't have headphones in their ears while we were talking as we began to smile because you were so proud of yourself.
You know the thought process behind this post came from a small moment that I had with my grandmother the other night who was asking me to assist her in picking out clothes to wear to an outing the other night. She handed me a shirt, zip-up sweater and a pair of pants and told me she needed to iron her pants. I of course looked at her jean pants that barely had any defined wrinkles in them. You know the kind of wrinkles that once you put them on, you will not be able to tell they were once wrinkled because when your legs go in them, it will straighten out the material? Yea, those kind. Without question, I took the pants and began to get what I needed to iron them, but in the back of my mind I did not feel it was necessary. It was to her though. So if she wanted her pants ironed, I would be happy to make her happy. After I ironed the pants, I noticed how much nicer it really did make them look and remembered how the material even stretches a little when ironed giving it a cleaner, crisp look and I began to think. I thought about how many times I've fussed at my kids for wearing winkled clothes to school or outside or any place for that matter. I thought about all the teenagers I see in winkled clothing and don't get me talking about pants hanging off their behinds. Lord help me! And although I know I have taught my kids how to use an iron, how frequently do they actually use it?
So I began to contemplate how I needed to squeeze an hour or two in my already busy weekend schedule to take time out and teach my kids the importance of doing things we were taught growing up....traditions. Whether it be ironing, cooking, cleaning, playing a game together or even doing arts and crafts. Anything that does not involve an electronic, was necessary. As necessary as the air we breath. So many of our youth do not know how to do simple task around the home or even make a home cooked meal. Now some may say, I don't know how to cook myself. Well my response to that is... that's great! Find a recipe online and learn together with your child and have fun with it. Iron your clothes together on Sunday to prepare for Monday or if your have extra time, prepare for the entire week. Teach them how to properly clean and the importance of cleanliness and for God's sake stop telling them to just close their door so you don't have to see it or better yet, stop cleaning their rooms for them! Set rules and standards that say no phones at the dinner table or while we have movie night. How about let's sit down, play a board game and talk about real life issues without having headphones plugged in your ears for dear life!
Be the change that you want to see in your household and in turn in the world because it starts at home in the household. It starts with you! The Weekend Vibe is what you make it with your children and your family.