I think...

that this is very important and I never want to forget to do this.

One-a-Day Compliments

One day I was visiting with a mother of seven grown children, all active, confident members of the Church. As a young mother anxious for help and advice, I questioned her about her secrets of success. One of her most impressive answers was: “I tried to genuinely compliment each child on something he or she did well every day.”

How often we ignore the good behavior of our children and comment only on their mistakes and misbehavior! To grow to be of value to himself and society, a child needs to think well of himself. He needs to see himself as an important person and know that he has abilities and skills.

Compliments go a long way toward improving a child’s self-esteem. Following are some ways to encourage a positive self-image in children.

1. Provide opportunities for growth. One of the first phrases a toddler learns to say is “I can do.” He likes to feel capable of performing different tasks—feeding himself, dressing himself, or pouring his own juice. Other challenges follow as he develops his abilities. He needs opportunities to perform. Parents have the responsibility to create these opportunities for growth and allow children to do as much as possible for themselves.

2. Encourage them. Children will often become whatever we tell them they are. If they feel loved and accepted if we center our attention on what they do well rather than on their failures and mistakes they will feel a sense of accomplishment and self-respect. However, if we fail to reinforce a child’s good behavior with encouragement, he may become discouraged and misbehave to gain attention. Often parents discourage children very innocently. For example, four-year-old Mary wants a drink of milk. She takes the carton from the refrigerator and begins to pour some milk into a glass when mother walks in. Mother quickly snatches the carton from Mary and says, “Here, let me do it. You’re too little. You might spill it.” If this kind of reaction is common, Mary will probably see herself as “too little” for a long time.

3. Compliment them. Compliments help children believe in themselves. But compliments must be genuine and specific to effectively influence behavior. Telling Johnny he is a good boy will not have the same effect as telling him how happy you are that he mowed the lawn without having to be reminded. Simply remember to notice your children’s good behavior and let them know how it honestly makes you feel.

As children grow up, they feel small and inadequate in the adult world. They make mistakes and are very much aware of their failures. But if we will remember to supplement their development daily with learning opportunities, encouragement, and sincere compliments, we can be assured that we are nourishing their self-esteem and potential for growth.

 Linda Turley Turner, Heber City, Utah

Mommy-hood

Oh, hey there.  How's life? Good? Good.

What am I doing? Oh, I'm just trying not to fall asleep on the keyboard while I blog about this day. It was a doozy I tell you, a doozy. Which is saying a lot because I don't necessarily use that word. But I don't know how else to describe it. 

6:30 Alarm goes off. Awesome. 

8:15 I am FLYING out the door

8:25 Work, and everything that comes with it... along with several surprises

12:30 Running out the door because I am leaving late from work... again.

12:32 Text message from mom. Cache popped his pants, I need to bring new ones.

12:40 Run inside the house, grab pants, check to make sure our taxes were accepted. Take a breathe run back outside. Help the neighbor pick up all of the papers she has dropped while her son is running out in the road and the other neighbor's dog is eating the papers. I'm thinking, "Man, looks like she is having a tough day."

1:00 Drive to P-Town to pick up Cache, change cache. Go to Steve's office to help him organize things.  SIDE NOTE: THANK YOU MOM FOR WATCHING CACHE TODAY! I didn't get to see you so I thought I would throw that in there. 

...

Now here is where I have completed making the list and Cache and I go to Office Max...this is also where I went from a spunky, energetic person to a...well...THIS

Before I write down the story I have to admit, I did kind of love some of the things that happened at Office Max. That is the majority of the reason I am blogging. I laughed, I yelled Cache's name, I groaned, I gave apologetic smiles to the staff and I ran... A LOT.

Office Max

Today Cache and I went to Office Max. It was fun, entertaining, exhausting, embarrassing, enlightening and it even made me feel like saying, "Imma gonna loose my mind!"

We entered the store quite casually. The nice man at the door gave  us a cart. Cache wanted to ride inside and I thought to myself, "Oh so nice. This won't take long at all." The man asked me if I needed help finding anything and I energetically said, "I'm alright, thanks." I pulled out my list like it was a treasure map and I was off. 

10 minutes into our shopping trip the song, You Belong With Me, came on. This happens to be my ringtone. Cache jumps from the child seat to the basket and starts saying, "Mommy's phone! Mom where yo phone?! Mom I don see it!" I'm stunned because I am still getting used to Cache talking so much and when he does I just want to listen to him. He is dying to come out of the cart and look for my phone. I tell him that he HAS to stay right by me and I let him out. ZOOM! He is running circles around me trying to find my phone. 

Fast Forward several minutes to when I am looking down at my heels thinking, "Krista Kei, you couldn't have just grabbed some rubber slippers to go shopping?" I snap out of it and continue to run. I catch Cache and we have  a little chat. He stays by my side for about 5 minutes. 

The same man that greeted us at the door asked me if I was still doing okay. I hinted a sense of sarcasm. I said, "uhh..I need those letter size hanging file folders, I can't reach." He points out that they are actually on the bottom shelf to my left. During this Cache decided to go for a run...again. I say run because he always comes back, so it isn't really running away. I watch as Cache does one of his amazing quick footed turns and runs back towards me. He says, "Where scaaeee (scary) man go?" I told him that he needed to hold mommy's hand because the scary man would come and get him. Cache was holding my hand and then I was trying to find the difference between folders that were exactly the same except one was $5.42 cheaper. He takes off AGAIN...then I hear...

"AHH!! MOM! A SCAEE MAN! RUN! RUN! MOM!!" I run to the end of the aisle to see Cache pointing at the nice sarcastic man who greeted us at the door and helped me find what I needed. I smiled at him and moved Cache along. 

Cache stayed by me the rest of the time. BUT, Steve called and as I was picking up notepads and as I was talking to Steve, Cache filled the cart with pens and folders. I looked at him and he said, "Der go mommy, welcome." Then he was pretty sad when I put it all back. 

Then it was finally time to check out.... 1 HOUR later. Cache really wanted to help push and so I was letting him walk in front of me to push the cart. Everyone in the store kept waving at Cache and he just did his little Cache strut. We got to the check out stand and guess who was there to help us...the same man who greeted us. His look changed from entertained to sympathetic. Probably because he witnessed Cache open my purse and dump out all of the contents onto the floor. The man whipped around the counter to help me and as he did that I quickly stuck Cache in the shopping cart. BAD IDEA. Cache climbed onto the check out stand. I scolded him and put him back in the cart and the man kept saying, "Oh don't worry about it." Cache said, "So sorry mom." Then he sat there like an angel while the man rang us up. We were almost to the end when the man said, "Would you like the receipt in the bag?" Cache is very observant because when that machine spit out the receipt Cache ripped it out. Then he ripped out some more. Once again, I had sympathetic glances aimed at me along with the, "Really don't worry about it." and the, "Wow, he is so full of energy!" and, "Aww, he is so cute. What a little helper." 

True Story... I looked down at my pedometer as we walked to the car, I had 1523 more steps then I had before we entered Office Max.

Cache fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. 

Then we got to Steve's office and I thought Cache would sleep. Nope. His 5 minute power nap was all he needed. 

Long story short, we took him to a babysitter first chance we got. Thank you T.j and Mandi.  We got everything done, left at 7:00 pm. No matter how much energy this kid takes out of me, I love em' and we will always find more energy to have fun. Right buddy?

Cacher-roo...

No matter what mistakes you make,

No matter the headaches and sore feet you give me,

No matter how many times you may have to sit in time-out,

I will love you for eternity.

You are MY little boy.

Doesn't matter that you will be a foot taller than me when you're 10,

Doesn't matter that you will someday start thinking girls are cute,

Doesn't matter how many times I may or may not have to ground you,

You are still my little boy.

And I love you for who you are. I love you to death and it brings me to tears.

Some day I will have to thank Heavenly Father the best way I know how and that is to give you a big hug and say, "I'm so proud of you! You are going to be a great missionary." Oh, I know that will be hard for me, but..

You're the best thing that could have ever happened to your dad and me. The sacrifices we have had to make and will have to make for you are nothing compared to the wonderful things you have brought into our lives. 

I just love you lots and so does your daddy.

P.S I do realize that the sore feet are my fault and not yours. I just love me some high heels kiddo! ;)