Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear...

As parents, we wish to be perfect for our children, but as you know that's pretty impossible. This has been on my heart for a while now, and at first I didn't want to write about it, but I know it's important and hopefully what I am about to write about encourages & challenges you, whoever is reading this.

A few weeks ago, I said a bad word in front of my almost three-year-old. Yep, I admit it. I don't remember what happened, it probably was a tiny little thing like stubbing my toe, and I remembered the words "Oh crap!" instantly sputtering out of my mouth. Now, "oh crap" isn't as bad as some of the other four lettered cuss-words we hear now-a-days, but still, not something I want my little kid repeating... YET she did, right after I said it, I heard her cute little voice go, "Oh crap!" Now believe me, I didn't feel like the world's greatest mother right then and there and to this day I still feel ashamed/embarrassed that that happened..

This whole week, I've been praying and thinking about how smart little kids are and how much they look up to their parents. It can be pretty easy to tell your children what to do and how to do it, what's right and what's wrong, but seriously, if you don't WALK the walk yourself, how else do you think they will learn. It may be easy if your child is still one years old and doesn't quite understand what you say or do yet, but trust me, those curious little ears and little eyes listen and watch you every day, ALL day. They are observing what you listen to on the radio, what you watch on TV, how you deal with stress, how you react to them spilling a bucket of water on the floor, how you deal with having an argument with your spouse, how often you talk about God or pray, EVERYTHING! And believe me, in my opinion, it is a HUGE if not the biggest responsibility & gift given to me as a parent, to be able to raise & train my children the right way!

..I think she's said the words "Oh crap" one more time since then, and when she did for the second time, I cringed & prayed she'd forget the words & explained to her that is something we do not say since it is not nice and makes God sad & that we say good words from now on.

I know I'm not a perfect mom.. who is? But with God's grace & by praying every single morning, I hope that as parents, Rich & I are amazing examples & role models for our kids. And even though I'm embarrassed by what happened, I am almost a little glad that maybe God used that incident to really show me how important it is to be a godly role model for my daughter and son. This sounds overrated but really, our children are setting the steps for the future.

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." It's a pretty popular verse, but it's one I have to remind myself of every morning before the kids wake up. =)