Welcome home with lessons learned (for mom and child).

One of my favorite times during the work week is the time Jordan comes home from school.  Just before the bus arrives I open the front door, and that always sends a signal to the babies to run to the door screaming "Jicka's Home!"

From the moment he walks in, he is bombarded by both babies, the dog, and of course, ME! He always tells me what color of the day he was on in the form of a question. Today he asked me "What color am I pointing at?" I looked around, and yelled with excitment "GREEN!!" It is such a fun and sweet moment at the time of his arrival. 

He is the best big brother in the world! He always takes the time before his after school snack to spend a little quality time wrestling around with the babies. From the moment he walks in, puts his book down, and lays down, William and Charlotte are always all over him giving him HUGE hugs and kisses. 

(here is William giving him his welcome home hug)

(... and here is Charlotte giving Jordan his hug, trying her hardest to wrestle with him.)

I would love to say that my children have grown up to be exceptional with their manners, happiness, and love from the child rearing that Chase and myself have done, but somethings are just simply "Them".  The Lord has blessed me, and my life with these bubbly little people full of love, happiness, and contentment. Of course, just like any kids, they all have there moments, but the good definitely out way the bad. 

Just the other day, I received a phone call from Jordan's teacher during school. She told me about a little hiccup that happened at school, and that Jordan wanted to tell me himself. Turned out that my sweet boy was found cheating on a test. During a spelling test, he placed a piece of paper with the words from the test next to his actual test. I realized (and so did the teacher) that this was seriously not his fault, and should not get into any trouble for it. He was perfectly innocent in the fact that no one ever told him that he was not allowed to do it. He thought what he was doing was allowed, and was SHOCKED when his teacher told him that what he was doing was wrong. My poor sweet boy was in tears over the phone with me. I had to calm him down, and let him know that what he was doing was cheating, and that it was a bad thing. "I didn't know mom!" he kept crying over the phone to me, "Hunny, well now you do, and so from now on, this won't ever happen again, right?" He was so relived to hear that he was not in trouble. That this was a time for a lesson to be learned. 

After that incident, I realized to myself that when our children start to get older, we begin to assume that they know what is right and what is wrong. It dawned on me that us, as parents, are not being completely fair to our children in this regard. I thought long and hard about all the times I used the phrase "you should have known better", and immediately felt like a horrible parent. It is my responsibility to point that finger back at myself while using that phrase. I am the one who should have known better, I am the one who didn't teach them these things, therefore, it is my fault, not theirs. I look at it this way from now on, if they do something that they truly didn't know was wrong, then the punishment should be taken off the table, and after a brief talk (as much at their attention will hold), then it should be written down in the books as a lesson learned.

I try my hardest to be the best mother I can be, but also, I am perfectly aware that their are plenty of things to improve on. I make it my mission to become a better parent with understanding and patience for my children's sake. I love it, and embrace it each time my children teach me a lesson or two.