More Love and Kindness

Last  night was probably one of the best Family Home Evenings we've ever had.  At least for me.  Just in case any one is reading this that doesn't know what Family Home Evening is (that makes the assumption that anyone reads this to begin with), I'll explain.  In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, every Monday night is reserved for the family.  Church meetings are not scheduled, and we as family try to keep the evening free from other activities so that we can spend it together, usually talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (very brief explanation).

Anyway, last night, we invited a young man from our ward to give us a lesson.  Actually the lesson was really to be directed to our children.  He talked to them about showing love to their mom and dad.  He talked about different ways that our kids could show us love.  Ironically enough, their response every time was "clean my room" or "give hugs and kisses."  I kept waiting for someone to say "not fight" or "not tease my sister/brother" but unfortunately I didn't hear a thing.

At the end of the lesson, this sweet young man, gave each of my children a jar, and gave me a bag of cotton balls.  Each time my children show love to someone in our family, they can put a cotton ball in their jar.  If they aren't very kind, I can take one out.  At the end of the week, if the jars are full of cotton balls, they can tell this young man what their favorite candy bar is and he will bring it to them.  Needless to say the jars/cotton balls have been great motivators!

Now for the ME part.  Today I realized how much I needed this lesson too.  Am I treating my family with as much love as I should be?  This morning I was saying something kind of harsh to one of my kids.  My husband called me on it, and when I spit out the excuse, "That's how you talk to them," he paused.  When I realized what I had said, I realized we along with our children had a lot of work to do.  Maybe part of the reason our children weren't being as kind was because we weren't being as kind as we should be.  Who picked it up from who?  I'm not sure, but I knew who needed to change first, ME!

So today, I've really tried hard.  Yes, my day isn't over yet, and I probably need my own jar of cotton balls, but at least I've recognized the problem.  Maybe now, we'll be able to have more peace and love in our home.  I'll let you know how we do.