Teaching Gratitude

I little while back, I became concerned that my girls were becoming a bit bratty and if there is one thing that gets on my nerves, it's spoiled, bratty children.  They had started expecting to go somewhere everyday and it seemed like they were expecting to be bought everything that they saw.  Even worse, my answer of no was bringing out pouted lips and whining.  So I did what a  mommy does best, I started to lecture.  I explained that they needed to practice being grateful and that some children didn't have what they had, how they were fortunate to have bikes and cars, have traveled and yada yada yada, ad infinitum. I pontificated on the difference between need and want and the importance of saying thank you when someone gives them something, being grateful, and expressing gratitude.

Well, on my wild woman search for Taco Flavored Doritos (don't ask, it's another story but if you've had them, you understand), I had to go to Kmart because rumor had it that the treasure could be found there.  Seemed like a simple enough task except for the one crucial detail that I forgot.  CHUCK E CHEESE is right next to Kmart!  You can imagine the girl's excitement when I pulled into the lot, parked the car, and told them to take off their seat belts! So we finally make it into Kmart and the campers aren't happy.  I think the fear of another speech kept them from asking for anything and we almost covered the entire store because mommy doesn't shop at Kmart, doesn't know the store layout, and was being male by refusing to ask for directions!

We leave the store empty handed and in the vestibule are these gumball/toy machines.  The girls LOVE these machines.  They look at me, I look at them, and I reach in my pocket to hand them a quarter.  Kylie wraps her arms around me and gives me a huge thank you.  Kennedi thanks me as well, but with much less excitement.  They get their quarter toys and as we exit the doors, Kennedi says: "I was practicing being grateful, right mommy?"  I tell her that she was and to that she replies, "Good, now I can go to Chuck E Cheese!"   Needless to say, teaching gratitude continues.....

WHERE Are My Barrettes??

The WHOLE story. Kylie and Kennedi love playing barber shop (I guess because I don't get my hair done, they don't quite grasp the beauty shop concept).  They put on capes, pull out brushes, bows, the works! Now that I think of it as I'm typing this, you don't see any of these things at a barber shop, but I digress. The interesting and fortunate thing is that they RARELY play in my hair. I think it's not fun to them because since I have locs, they can't brush or comb it but just put stuff in them.  I HAVE gone to teach with a neon green barrette hidden in the back of my locs from days earlier, but most of the time I escape.

Thursday, Daddy comes home from work and he's not feeling well.  He has bad allergy and sinus issues and doesn't take medication.  He's sitting in the chair, Breathe Right strip across his nose, eyes red as the dickens, just being tortured as the girls simultaneously play barber shop. Daddy is very dark skinned and don't forget, his eyes are red right now.  They coif his do with bright orange scrunchies and barrettes.  He's quite the site and of course I am laughing hysterically as he suggests that they do mommy's hair.  I even have a picture because the girls insisted on taking a picture of their work.<insert sinister laugh here>  They even made him say cheese, which I thought was appropriate for the color of his hair decorations!Bwahhh!  The thing about the picture though, is that he has threatened me about putting it up. Stay tuned though, I will broach the subject again with him and maybe he will threaten me with something good like a divorce and THEN I'll POST IT! Just Kidding, but I am going to try to get it posted.  Let's fast forward to Friday.

Daddy leaves for work before the girls are awake.  When he comes in from work Friday evening, I can here Kylie yelling at the top of her lungs, "WHERE ARE MY BARRETTES????" He explained to her that everyone would have laughed at him at work (He works in a factory but quite frankly, he would have been the laughing stock at any locale). She promptly exclaims, "UH UHNNN, NO THEY WOULDN'T CUZ YOU LOOKED PERFECT!" Thankfully, she didn't threaten to never do his hair again. :-)