Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Make Me

Pin It Now! "I want you to make me."

Yes.  This is what my 9 yr. old said to me the other day.

Fortunately, he wasn't being disrespectful. ;)  He wants me to make him practice playing the guitar.

My husband and I have tried not to be the kind of  pushy parents who schedule every waking hour of our children's lives, over-commit them to a whirlwind of activities and sports, and force them to be what we want them to be.  (I admit, it is more my nature to gravitate toward the latter end.) 

Finding a healthy balance in this area can be quite difficult and exhausting.  On one hand, I want my children to know how to just "be" and not have to constantly be entertained.  I want them to be creative on their own and learn to be self-motivated.  (Lack of finances has definitely played a huge part in helping my husband and I achieve this goal!)  On the other hand, I don't want my children to become too bored.  And, honestly, sometimes children need a little healthy force encouragement to get off their behinds and do something worthwhile!  Playing Halo doesn't count.

I am already my kids' teacher, so I am the one making them do all their schoolwork; I make them do chores and a bunch of other stuff, too. So, when I asked my son why in the world he wanted me to make him do something else, much wisdom poured forth from his little mouth.  Basically he said that if I didn't make him, he probably wouldn't practice playing.  And that even though he didn't like being made to do things, this would be one of those things he'd thank me for later.

Okay, so really now I have one more thing to add to my plate.  We shall see how this goes, especially since football season has begun.  :)

No comments:

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...