The Daily Reminder – Day 3: Kids + Compliments

At the heart of making words matter for good is using our words to lift other people up. To lift our kids up and brighten their day. To build their self-esteem, knowing how much we value them.

Today, my focus will be on giving compliments to my kids. I want to really focus on complimenting their character, but also on how hard they are working. Some of our kids work really hard to be within our good graces. Trying to always do the right thing, while also having fun can be a hard balance for some kids. And truthfully, just following the many instructions I have for them is worthy of a compliment!

• “Thanks for eating your food without complaining.”
• “Thanks for helping your brother get into his chair.”
• “Great job making your own breakfast.”
• “I love how hard you work at practice.”
• “You do such a great job of playing with your sister.”
• “I am so proud of how you got dressed all by yourself today.”
• “You look so beautiful in that shirt.”
• “I can tell how hard you are working to keep from yelling at your brother.” (HAHA)

My goal is to intentionally give at least 10 compliments to each child today. (I have a 12-hour day at work today, so I only have 2.5 hours to get in that many compliments. Wish me luck!!)

Recap from Day 2

I wasn’t sure how it was going to go yesterday. It didn’t start out well because I had to work half the day and then felt myself falling into task-mode. But I caught myself and got focused shortly after lunch. I went out and started shooting hoops on our little basketball rim (where my 9-year-old often plays). And he came out saying…”Hey. When have you ever played on this rim??” 🙂

We played for about 10 minutes and then I went to play with my other son who was playing marbles on the floor. My 9-year-old walked past and said, “Now you’re playing with Adrian?? You’re really getting into this playing today.”  HAHA! Seriously?? I promise he said that! And I promise I didn’t tell him I was focused on playing today!

As I reflect on how the day went, I really did not devote a lot of TIME to playing. 10 minutes here. 5 minutes there. 30 minutes at the park at the end of the day. Staying focused on each child and drawing them in to play. And you know what…. I still got everything done that I needed to get done today. I wasn’t stressed. I didn’t miss out on my to-do list. I just had fun trying to be present when I was playing.

It made me stop to think, why can’t I do that everyday?!? It really wasn’t hard at all.  And frankly, what do I believe is so much more important than that? At the end of the day, I realized that I waste a lot of time doing things that matter a whole lot less than playing (like Facebook, scrolling my phone, incessantly checking my email, UGH!). And with a little reminder yesterday, I was able to learn how unimportant those things really are.

Thanks for joining me in this adventure! Can’t wait to hear how y’all are doing!

photo cred pixabay (blur-chair-cheerful-160739)