Teaching Life Skills

As a mom, I look for any and every chance to teach what I call "Life Skills."  My hope is that my kid will gain some street smarts from these little lessons that I employ each day while we're playing, or in this case, washing dishes.  Oh, yes, my 4 year old loves to wash dishes.  Probably because he gets open range of the water faucet and uses half a bottle of soap because of the fascination of bubbles coming out of the other side of the sink.  But I'm okay with that, as long as some of what we talk about sticks.  Here's a few lessons I gave while he was washing his Huggerz out in the sink (one of many ways it can be cleaned).

Lesson #1:  Get dirty.  Play in the dirt.  Don't be afraid to dive after that ball.  But then use soap.  If you pet the dog, use soap.  If you say dirty words, the soap will go in your mouth.  Don't go through life afraid of getting dirty, you can clean up the things that matter most as long you are sincere and honest.

Lesson #2:
Always rinse it off.  If you get a scraped knee or bleed a little, you need to wash it off.  If you hurt someone's feelings, you need to clean that up, too.  Always treat your friends the way you want to be treated, and if you mess up, rinse it off and start again.  I'll be here for you.

Lesson #3:  Check it out.  Take a good look at your books, your toys, your imagination.  Don't take anything at face value because there's always more to it.  Examine your work closely because you have a chance to make it better if you need to do so.  {Insert Peer Pressure Lecture} Think closely about what your friends are wanting you to do - would you want me to know about it?  Because I'll find out, oh, yes, I will and ..... and then we'll hug it out.

Lesson #4:  Learn when to lay it down.  When you've done the best you can do & all that you can, be proud of yourself and let it go.  Wring it out & dry your hands.  There's no reason to worry about it, my love, because as long you are holding onto it, God won't do much with it.  "Pray and lay" is what my Grandma used to tell me and what I will always tell my Jett.