Sharing Lent with the Kids

Painting of Jesus by TP's favorite artist, Akiane

It's Lent again...

Every year for the past 3 or 4 years, there are three things I love to do with my Tweetie Pie to make the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection more accessible and understandable for her:

1) Watch (or read) The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (either the Chronicles of Narnia movie or the old '70s cartoon movie which I also love),

2)  Go to Chruch Simplified's The Walkway in Bonifacio High Street. (I hope they still have it this year.)  TP enjoys participating in the activities there that really help her to put her own reflections into the concrete.

and

3) Read The Amazing Journey by Susie Poole.  I absolutely love how this book explains how Jesus changed the commandments when He came!

This year, dear hubby and I shared with her what we were giving up for the Lenten season (gulp! night time munching, including my favorite dark chocolates!).  She decided to join in as well and gave up all screen time (TV, iPad, Internet, except if we decide to watch a movie as a family) for the entire 40 days.

Today, Tweetie Pie and I have a date after school.  She always looks forward to these dates where I take her to art galleries or work on some arts & crafts activity.  I think today, we will go somewhere nice (open space with nature) and have some "Lenten art reflection" time.

I look forward to doing these with sweet little Bon-Bon as well as he grows older :)

What do you guys do with your kids?  Would love to learn from your ideas, too! :)

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Have you ever had those days where anything that can go wrong will go wrong?  And just when you're trying to rush something and accomplish so much, that is also exactly the time when at least one of your children will be more clingy, have accidents, and need your attention?

http://www.allfacebook.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/moods.jpg

I'm a panic parent.  If my husband and I were to be compared to natural elements, I would be fire and he would be water.  If you know me, you'll notice how my voice can go from shrieky high to big and low in all in one sentence when I'm animatedly telling you a story.  When I'm happy, I'm up in the clouds and when I'm sad, I'm completely down in the dump.  So on days that I feel I have to meet a deadline (or even just a perceived expectation), I can hyperfocus on it and panic when things don't go smoothly.

And it is during these days that I seem to hear from my dear Tweetie Pie and darling Bon-Bon things like:

"Milka-milka!" [This is Bon-Bon's cue for wanting to breastfeed.] 

[BANG! Something falls to the floor.]  "Heeeeeeelp!"

"Mamaaaaaa!" followed by "Waaaaahhhh," with a cry that will break your heart.

Haaaayyy...

And yet when I do take a moment to pause and take a step back to calmly look at the whole picture, that's when I realize how much children really pick up from our moods.

It's exactly because I'm stressed that my children also become stressed and often feel the need for assurance. It's also the same reason why a new breastfeeding mom who is worried about her milk supply has trouble latching on and getting her baby to relax and be calm.  It's exactly the reason why we can't fight or argue in front of our children.

When the kids are having an off day, more often than not, I don't really need to look far for answers.  Our children often reflect back to us what they sense from us.

Okay, I need to take a deep breath, slowly exhale, take a moment to pray, and face the day's concerns with a calm and positive attitude -- so that my Tweetie Pie and Bon-Bon can also face life with the right attitude!