Helping propel moms & dads of 3 to 13 year-olds to invest in their power-decade of parenting. Father of 3 teenagers and pastor of 20 years turned digital writer.
Family Friday: Cleaning your restaurant table and thanking the staff
Hi there, it's Finley 👋🏼
Happy Friday to the 49 parents who joined this week.
Today's story takes 3 minutes to read.
Regulars at a restaurant
One of the moments that we emphasized as a family was whenever we left a restaurant together.
I'm sure you've experienced the carnage of your table before. After sitting down for 30-60min, you wonder how could such a young family create such a scene?
The consistent habit that we started was to require our kids to help clean up our table before we left. The point was to take responsibility for our own mess and not expect someone else to do the work for us.
We wanted our kids to care about what it would mean to someone else that we didn't leave our mess for them.
Sure, my wife and I did most of the work, but starting when they were even 4-5 years old, they had to clean up their own trash.
The other habit, was to always thank the staff as we walked out.
Whether it was a waiter, hostess, or the person behind the register at Chick-fil-a, I made it a point to say thank you as we left.
Recently, as we were leaving to head outside, my youngest daughter (now 13) turned around and thanked the staff. I had forgotten but not her.
She did it because it had been modeled hundreds of times throughout her life.
It was surprising because this habit was honestly something we never intentionally told our kids to do. We just did it and our kids picked up on it too.
We used eating out and the people who served us to develop empathy and kindness in our kids, but it took a long time.
Grace
Parenting has a million possible moments that require grace.
Implementing this idea will not be difficult. I promise, this week you’ll see a situation that needs grace.
You will not need to wait long to put it into practice. Parenting is not easy, but supporting each other is.
All it takes is a little grace. Jon Acuff
That's all for today's writing of Parenting: what we've learned (so far)
If any of this was engaging or you had a small take away,
it always helps when parents share with others.
Here is a link to this page on the web you could copy and share
Power-Decade Parenting
Helping propel moms & dads of 3 to 13 year-olds to invest in their power-decade of parenting. Father of 3 teenagers and pastor of 20 years turned digital writer.
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2.5 min read Season: The Cold Days (4 of 12) Family Controversy In our family, girls are allowed to get their ears pierced at age 12 and not a moment sooner. Are we crazy? Possibly.Are we an outlier? Likely.Do we have a reason? Definitely. How much thought have you put into the appropriate age for a girl to have her ears pierced? If your answer is not much, then you're in the majority. For most families, there is no thought at all, which is totally fine. I am sure...
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2.5 min read Season: The Cold Days (3 of 12) The Proximity Problem On Christmas day this year, our family had a Clark Griswold moment. We enjoyed a bit of nostalgia when I grabbed the old video camera and watched some early-stage home movies. The big kids were 2 & 3 years old. Everyone in the living room smiled, ooed, and laughed as we re-watched the chaos of our young family. When kids are little, life is full of piles: toys, clothes, and bodies too. Wrestling on the...
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2 min read Season: The Cold Days (2 of 12) One Piece At A Time One of the biggest challenges of power-decade parenting is that your life is pulled in a thousand different directions. Being intentional to build connection and character with your kids can feel like a losing effort. The ability to focus on one child at a time seems as impossible as wrangling your squirming toddler to get their diaper on. In my early parenting days, I got overwhelmed and in my own head...