What You Say Is Important, What You Do Is Even More So!

As my kids are little bit older it is becoming more and more clear that actions speak louder than words.  Just in the last few weeks the examples of this have been amazing.

1.  They are required to read non-fiction books as well as fiction in the elementary school.  Tsunami brought home a new non-fiction book to read. To my surprise instead of being about horses or dogs or any other animal it was a book on archaeology.  This semester I have anthropology.  One of my books is dealing with different cultures and she has fallen in love with it.  By showing an interest in anthropology (even though it is not one of my favorite classes), a new door has opened up for her to view with an open mind and positive attitude.

2.  Studying:  It has become an even bigger habit in our house.  Because I am usually studying one thing or another, my kids have taken it upon themselves to keep up.  This has turned into Typhoon, who is working on genetics, to quiz me left and right about things he is learning (which is a great thing considering it is right in line with what we are doing in anthropology!)  It has turned into Tsunami quizzing me over simple machines and mass and other physical science facts. Thunderstorn has taken it upon himself to quiz me on his math which in 2nd grade is super easy, but he is still in turn learning them himself.  These study sessions are just the beginning of great skills that have been neglected.

3.  Baking:  Throughout their lives we have used Wheat Montana flour. This is because 1. I know where it comes from and 2.  I love supporting people I "know" and 3. It really is an amazing flour :)!!! Well because of this Tsunami has decided this should be the only flour we use.  All by just observing what Mom does.  Typhoon went to school today and rocked his cooking demonstration and when asked to actually bake his cookie dough (he was just demonstrating how to use a rolling pin)  he told her well I believe its 375 for about 10 minutes.  It definitely isn't because he is helping me bake them at home, but he has definitely been observing whats been going on around him.

With all of this just happening in the last week or so it brings to mind that all of us need to really pay attention to what we are doing ourselves!  We ask so much of our kids but in many cases we don't do those things ourselves.  We are truly models for the younger generations and it is sad to think that so many of us get so busy caught up in life we forget that there are little eyes upon us.  We want kids to be less dependent on technology for entertainment...WE need to be less dependent on technology for entertainment!  We want our children to be more active and fight obesity...that begins with the adults and role models around them!  This last week has been so eye opening for me as a mom. It has brought back into focus the importance of still teaching them and not letting things slide by the wayside just because I am super busy.

It's time to bring days like this back!