Life Lesson #1

While playing Legos with Lil Rev this weekend celebrating his last day of preschool, I gave him his 1^st life lesson. Of course that’s our job as parents; teach our children good values and morals, how to be independent, strong, intelligent, creative, positive contributors to society. We’ve been doing it all along with daily lessons, such as “Don’t pick your nose. Don’t eat it. Don’t point at people and say things about others that may hurt their feelings. Listen to and respect adults. Share. Be nice to your friends. The Golden Rule.  Flatulence Etiquette 101…” and on and on and on.  

This Sunday full of playing, cleaning, errands and movies, Lil Rev was playing Legos while I was cleaning up. Right in the middle of doing laundry I hear a shrieking, whining little voice coming from the living room “Moooooooommy!!! I need you. Can you come here please?  I need your help!” I encouraged him to keep trying and figure it out as I was right in the middle of switching a load of laundry.  He requested help for the next few minutes as I hear him shuffling through all his Legos in his tray looking for a specific piece (he has probably 500 pieces that make for some great creating and frustrating searching). As i finish up and head over to help him he excitedly yells “YESSSSS!!! I found it! It was so tricky to find but I kept looking and finally found it!!!” I couldn't pass up this moment so Life Lesson #1 was created… the perfect time to attentively teach my son about the bigger things in life. 

Life Lesson #1 = When you feel frustrated, or like you want to give up; keep going, keep trying,  because you can always figure it out. You can do it!

I sat him in my lap, made sure his ‘listening ears’ were turned on (which he promptly simulated turning up of the volume of his ears) then I explained this 1^st Life Lesson and related to this specific experience he just overcame. “If you keep trying, have some focus, concentration and patience you can always figure it out. You were searching for a piece, became really frustrated and started whining for help, BUT you kept at it and found the piece you were looking for all by yourself! Sometimes you may need to take a break, think about it differently or even try again later… but you can always do it!"