Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Mini-me

The other day I saw a quote on Facebook that said "Your kids may not always do what you tell them to, but they will do what you do." - Anthony Fleming, Pastor at The Good Shepherd Church in Rutherford, NJ

That quote has been stuck in my head since I read it because it is so true.  Sometimes I look at my oldest daughter and the first thing that comes to mind is "mini-me"...she is literally a little me.  I know that there are things that will come naturally to her because she has my genes, but there are things she will be taught...whether I teach it to her intentionally or not.

I love to help people, motivate people, and inspire people.  I love seeing people grow and become better.  That is one of the reasons that I always try to post positive messages on social networking sites.  There are people who tend to be so negative and are always complaining.  There are times I read posts that are on the negative side and it can really be a downer.  I don't want people to feel that way when reading things I write.  I want people to be encouraged and have something to take away to help them grow...and at a minimum, I want them to feel happy when they read something I write.  If we were all to understand the impact that a simple post of facebook can make, we would all be a little wiser with what we post.  But, that's enough with my rant on that.

Back to my point.  Alisha, my youngest, always seems to turn things into competition; even when no one knows that there is a competition going on.  As we were leaving the house, walking down the steps, Alisha sits on the bottom step and starts crying.  I knew she didn't fall so I asked Ana to go and get Alisha.  Since Alisha wanted nothing to do with Ana, I went over and asked her why she was crying.  She answered "Ana beat me." I started laughing because we had no clue that a race was going on.  I proceeded to tell her that it's ok that Ana beat her.  She has to learn how to lose.  Some days we win and some days we lose.  Ana then looks at Alisha and says "yea, Alisha.  On the days you lose, you just pick yourself back up and try again.  Try and try again."

I was so excited with her response that I had her give me a high five and told her how right she was.  Ana needs to take her own advice sometimes, but don't we all.  What really impressed me is how she was trying to motivate Alisha to be better and to realize that just because you lost this time doesn't mean you'll lose the next time.  You just have to keep on trying.  I never trained Ana to think like that nor have I coached her on how to motivate people.  She just sees me to do it.  So, I end this blog entry with the same quote I started with because it really speaks for itself.

Kids won't always do what you tell them to, but they will do what you do.

With lots of love,
Andi

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