A Pookie silver lining

I was thinking today was a pretty unsuccessful day in parenting. Pookie threw toys a few times and hit G, G appeared to be ignoring me, Pookie pooped in his underwear, and they ate leftovers for breakfast, cereal for lunch, and PB&J for dinner.

This evening as a family we were reading in Mosiah chapter 24. We were discussing the chapter and really emphasizing how important it is to be obedient to Heavenly Father even in the seemingly little things. We talked about how it’s like practicing obedience with Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes the little things don’t seem very important, but it helps us to do the bigger obedience things when we are already in the practice of constantly obeying. We told the kids that we would never ask them to do anything that would be against what Heavenly Father would want them to do. You know, they didn’t sit reverently the whole time. G was playing in the big box quietly, Bun was crawling around attacking books, and Pookie was pretend laughing (which was a bit annoying). The only time Pookie listened (or so I thought) was when held his face in my hands and told him we’d never ask him to do anything against what Heavenly Father would want them to do. But then when it came time to kneel for family prayer, he was the first kneeling with his arms folded. Danny asked him to pray. Pookie prayed so reverently and towards the end of his prayer he said, “And please help us to always practice obedience.” He was listening! Then after our family prayer we did our happy family cheer (all hands in middle like a team and say, “One, Two, Three! We are a happy family! YEAH!) and Pookie went around and hugged everybody so nicely and said, “I love you.”

Maybe I’ll continue on with this parenting thing tomorrow.