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Wordless Wednesday

Last night we talked with our kids about what it means to raise the bar. It was a good exercise to help them understand what it means and to help them stretch themselves. Their dad retold the story of the father who comes home to see his son practicing the high jump. He had the bar set at the required height to qualify for district competitions and was clearing the jump each time. His dad asked him how it was going and he answered confidently that he could clear the bar with ease. When he then asked how high he’d been able to jump he replied that he hadn’t tried a higher height than the qualification requirement. So he explained to his son that if he never raised the bar he’d never know how high he could jump and succeed.

So often in my life I find myself content to leave the bar at the minimum requirement. At first even that can be challenging, but over time and repetition it gets easier and easier. Yet having the discipline to raise it remains elusive. So last night we talked about ways to raise the bar in our own lives. I helped my 5 year son whittle down the task to one day or thing to get out of the blanket “be good” answer and he decided that he’d set a goal to not whine on Sunday about going to church but to smile and be happy. It’s a good start. *smile* When I asked my 10 year old daughter what she could do she said she could be nicer to her brother. I smiled and asked her how and she replied that she could not yell or fight with him. I told her that was great but that was actually the minimum requirement in our house and challenged her to think of a way she could raise that minimum. After a few minutes she said, “I could help him with his homework or read to him.” I told her that was a beautiful idea.

For myself, I’ve worked on increasing the self-discipline required to get out of bed earlier in the morning. It’s gone well this week and there’s been a notable difference in the peace and kindness in our home before going out the door for school, not to mention starting the day with a clean kitchen sink! The scene was set for good things and then my daughter raised my parental pride meter to the high reds when she showed me how she’d really grasped this concept. She gave her little brother a big hug before leaving, called him ’sugarbug’ and wished him a wonderful day. It sounds small, but this was beyond raising the bar a little compared to the normal hustle and bustle, let alone intolerant comments of mornings past and the entire drive to school was spent hearing him talk about how sweet it was that his sister called him a sugarbug and how nice she was.

I worry about our kids in society today. They have so much at their disposal helping them lower the bar instead of raise it. Learning basic social skills and common civility is lost in the absorption of text messaging, cell phones and other technology communication devices. Stretching their brains and muscles is too often replaced with mindless computer, video games or TV. I don’t think it’s going to be enough for parents in our generation to encourage their kids to play outside once and a while or read a book once and while. I think parents are going to have the raise the bar within their own homes to compensate for these influences. I think parents are going to have to raise the bar for themselves.

The start may be small, but those tiny adjustments at the hinge have big impact on the swing radius at the end of the gate.

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Parenting Positive Impact Inspiration Deep Thoughts

Success is brewing. I didn’t get back to my computer the way I thought I would this week - hence the rocky start because that really means I spent most of my valuable computer time catching up on e-mails and GoogleReader. Moreover, on Wednesday I sat down only to find a broken Internet connection which didn’t get fixed until yesterday. I can live without almost anything but to lose my connection online is like suffering double limb amputation! It’s all good now as things are back in place. On the bright side I’m looking back at some immediate successes and getting fueled for some fun success in 2008.

1) I got an entire script written for a group of over 30 youth in an upcoming youth cultural arts night
2) Had at least 3 fabulous food successes in the last week
3) Spent quality time with my kiddos and spouse
4) Got all the laundry caught up and the bedding washed/changed
5) Cleaned up my computer from old files and programs and loaded my new Adobe programs
6) Got my entire e-mail box cleaned up and archived and my blog reading caught up
7) Beat my highest bowling score of all time with the Wii this week *big smile*
Came up with several new ideas and goals regarding my blog for 2008
9) Found out how to make my fonts in Firefox look normal
10) Had an encouraging visit with my hubby last night about potential changes in the future - very exciting!

So now I’m ready to jump in and get things moving! As long as I’m sharing successes, I’ll have to post a little more on the ultimate success for neighbor Christmas gifts this year…the personalized soap dispensers. These were an absolute hit and so incredibly easy! Click here for the pdf file with instructions and tips, or Click here for an editable Word 2007 file.

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Parenting Positive Impact Balance Success Blogging