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 Springtime (6 of 11) The Guarantee A few summers ago I found myself at the lake with some young dads. It was the kind of weekend where the conversation was rich and the fun overflowed. As we sat around in the living room, the topic of conversation steered towards raising kids. Some of it was about the challenges of kids entering middle school and others about adding a second kid to the family. One of the young dads asked me what it was like...
500 Fridays Newsletter - 3 min read Season: The Springtime (5 of 11) First, Pull The Weeds My father loves to garden.... but I do not. We live next door to each other though, so I am the beneficiary of his green thumb. Gardening is a lot of ongoing work that I don't enjoy. There's something specific to do in every season, and the cycle never ends. It's not complicated, it's just so tedious. Pull the weeds. Water the plants. Fertilize the soil.Pull the weeds. Remove dead plants & plant new...
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2.5 min read Season: The Springtime (4 of 11) Becoming "That" House Having a family culture where your teenage kids want to bring their friends over to hang out is easier said than done. Many (but not all) of my friends that I talked to over the years wanted their house to be a place where teenagers gathered. Whether kids showed up after ball games, came over for board games or just needed to crash for the night, having a welcoming teenage home is a goal for many...