We have been crazy busy this season with extracurriculars! It could be that the lack of outside activities during the height of the pandemic has made the return to those activities feel so much more busy. I have 4 kids in soccer and 4 in different running clubs and 3 in piano and…you get it. We’ve got stuff going on. Usually I have dinner planned out far enough ahead of time to prepare it in advance. Or the crock pot is used, or whatever. This week I just was busy elsewhere.
On Tuesday my oldest (13 year old) was going to be home with my youngest 2 while my husband and I were at separate soccer practices with the other 3. I asked him to make dinner for himself and the little boys and let him know when we’d be back. Upon our arrival back home I walked in to find all 3 of them laughing uproariously and wrestling on the floor. They happily greeted us and I was so glad to see that everyone was enjoying themselves. I asked if he could get my littlest ready for bed while I made dinner for everyone else. After dinner was ready for everyone else, I walked upstairs to find my 13 year old son singing a lullaby to my 2 year old son. I stopped at the door and enjoyed the sweetness of the moment. Seeing the tenderness in his interaction with my 2 year old just melted me. I am grateful for his example to my other kids.
Next day also crazy, running club, piano, and violin lessons–oh my!! I pulled out a couple of boxes of pasta and asked if my oldest could just boil it so that when everyone came home it would be ready. He left to go on a run, I left on my part-time job as a taxi…I mean mom ;). When we came home he had set out bowls, taken out various sauces, gotten out grape tomatoes, and overall went above what I had asked him to do. I came in and gave him a hug, saying “thank you,” for having everything ready to go, even beyond what I had requested. It was evident that he had enjoyed doing it.
Next day, we left in a hurry. I didn’t say anything to my oldest about dinner. When I came home, he met me at the car and excitedly asked what he could make for dinner. This unplanned practice in expanding his responsibility had made him crave it. It had broadened his thinking beyond himself. Instead of thinking about his own needs and what he’d be having for dinner, he was thinking of our family globally and recognized that it needed to be done. Now, I don’t want him bogged down with concern for it, but if my kids offer to help when they see that there is a task that needs to be done, then I have done my job as a mom. After all, we are raising kids to become adults.
Give them responsibility and they will rise to the occasion. Put them in charge of something. Show them that they are a contributing member of your family so that they will be a contributing member of society later on.
Now if only I could get him to put his socks away, we’d be golden!!
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Kayleen
