Mom friend,
It is this time of the year, where in America the word wish is most used.
I have a gift for you and kids before; although I am probably late, they share their famous “ wish list”. See we are educating future adults and I believe every mom's dream is for them to be functional and that they may make a mark in humanity. Even when that means, having healthy relationships at work and in their families.
So, when does that wish really starts becoming a reality? The fact is, we might not realize responsibility, respect and farther more care, is something we develop since they are born. Many times I am concerned when I observe our world very kids centered. Their wish becomes ours, and we forget the hopes we have for their bright future to turn our attention, and savings towards that short term happiness they make us believe is a most in their lives.
What to do then? How do we become a mom instead of a kid's wish maker servant?
I have a challenge we could do together this December: 1. Open the bubble and let the air wind their self centered lives. How so?
Challenge 1 would be -GO AND HELP. Take your kids to visit somebody who is sick or a retirement center, or a feeding center. After you have done this, go home skip the temptation to hit the mall or their favorite fast food, because the just did what we all should : help others. They did not earned a price or became better than anyone, this humanity is our/their responsibility. Let them process the emotionally growing experience.
2. Know the world around us. You know we are from Honduras, now living in USA. In the school my husband and I started. We fund raise so more than 90% of students can access to a scholarship. I have asked a few HSD School kids for their wishes ( although we do not even know what a wish list is in Honduras) . I want to send their list to your children, so their perspective of “wish list” becomes more world wide enriched. This humanizing process makes us develop gratitude, it is not to make us feel bad about the blessings God aloud us to have, it is more about satisfaction and blocking that destructive culture of never having enough. Our children should have big dreams but also should enjoy every second of the things they already have. One thing I love about poverty, is it makes grateful, hard working, happy humans. My children both helped me to translate those wishes for the 10/72 children who have sponsors. As I saw my kids help me to finish this gift - with the wishes in it - for our HSD supporters, I also witnessed their minds changed after struggling with the reality that this month we cut Netflix, we didn’t buy a Christmas tree and we have never asked them for wish list - we get them something very low budget and educational every year. The important presents they need, we give to them through the year when it is doable.
3. The last challenge I have made a tradition and I invite you to join, we do everything fun and related with spending all through Christmas except the week before Christmas day. We have one of those candle Christmas ornaments, every day one of us will light theirs and plan something we can do all together at home. Meaning that week, we do things at home: no more shopping, no TV, no more malls, or eating out. We get to invite friends over and play, we get to write cards, call friends and family, we visit friends, we enjoy the most special things: those you do not pay for. Every day, depending on the size of your family, for us this year it will be 5 days. I wonder what baby Isaac - 15 months old - will do?; probably a ball game. But back to the challenge, each one of us is in charge of planing something to do at home: music, reading anything Jesus centered Christmas, baking cookies, playing board games, etc. We sit and enjoy the unexpected things each one plans. I won't even start with the educational and enriching experience it is for a child to be responsible to lead something, or the blessing it is for a parent to get to realize how capable and creative they are, without our leading. Dad finishes the last night and we light up the last candle on the 24th of December.
So if you want to be part of my #ChristmasMOMChallenge I will gladly share all of our learning experiences. If you have fb we can join a Christmas mom challenge group and I will be glad to share everyone's results on it.
Comments