One of the best blessings any parent can receive is the blessing of good relationships. Yes, I love that I have a good relationship with my husband, mother, sister, father, children. But the good relationship I'm speaking of is that between my two little ones.
Today was just an example of the daily expressions of love that my girls show to each other. Sarah is probably more loving and giving than Allison but I think it's just an age thing. I hear horror stories of children who absolutely despise each other, hold jealous feelers towards each other, or just plain taunt one another and it breaks my heart. Albeit I have LOTS of time for my children to develop these attributes since they are only 4 and 2, but I figure a good foundation counts for a lot.
This morning Sarah had her snacks for after ballet. I wasn't expecting to stay the whole time and so I didn't bring a snack for Allison. At the end of class Sarah reached in her bag and grabbed her snack. Allison was immediately VERY interested in the snack, expecting she would get one too. I quietly asked Sarah if she would mind sharing with her sister. Her response was a very pleasant and unconcerned, 'Sure, here Allison!'. No fights, no arguments, no tantrums. It just came naturally that she would want to give her sister something if Allison needed it.
Allison, even at 2, is also displaying an impressive amount of generosity. She is pretty decent at taking turns. Although she tends to tease Sarah whenever Sarah wants something - it eventually gets to Sarah one way or another. It dawned on me the other day that my kids don't know what 'my toy' versus 'your toy' is. They share them all. Nothing is sacred in this house (even night-time blankies are shared in desperate times). The other night Allison was all out of her blankets. Either they were dirty or we left them at Nana's house or something. I didn't put the kids down since I was work but when I woke Allison up she had Sarah's most prized blanket in her crib. I asked Sarah about it and she nonchalantly replied that Allison needed a blanket so she shared.
I hope I can apply some of the lessons I learn from my own children. I know that none of what I have is mine. It belongs to the Lord. And even though I may not enjoy being with someone some of the time, they are still my brother or sister and I must give.
'Because I have been given much, I too must give.'
2 comments:
Hey, welcome back back! Glad you're here. we've missed your posts. Between going private and switching blog hosts, things somehow got lost in translation. Anyway, good to catch up again. see ya in a couple weeks!
I try to remember to give others the benefit of the doubt too - that's a hard one to master. Thanks for the reminder to always be generous to our brothers and sisters. Thanks Sarah and Allison for the generous examples you set.
Post a Comment