Parenting is hard.  It’s complicated.  It’s unpredictable.  I have been challenged in the past 2 weeks.  We anticipate summer vacation, but once it’s here…we have a lot of adjusting to do.  Our kids spend about 4 hours on school nights with us.  On weekends we often go do something together, but it’s very laid back, usually.  When we are done with school…it’s a whole different thing.  Now I am spending 12-14 hours a day with them (most days).  I’m primarily the one who maintains the home, disciplines the kids, motivates them to do chores, school work, exercise, encourages them to get along, sets the boundaries, feeds them, plans activities, etc.  All of this is an adjustment for them…but it’s an adjustment for me, too.  Not to mention the fact that our kids went from spending about 4 hours together a day to 14 hours!  They are getting used to each other again too.

This week has been a difficult one.  I have wanted to give up.  I feel totally inadequate.  Some days are better than others of course, but there are days when I just wonder what I am I doing wrong.  I can’t believe my kids could be so selfish, so unforgiving, so impatient, so inconsiderate…I could go on.

Today, I stumbled across a link on a blog I visit regularly.  It’s Kids of Integrity. There are 16 different lessons. I am very excited about the quality of the lessons and the great ideas to teach my kids these character traits.  This is really lacking in our family.  I mean, I think we kind of just expect our kids to learn these things at church…but we aren’t really “teaching” them.  So I am going to make the effort to begin these lessons with our kids this summer.  We are going to start with generosity.