Welcome to the new school year! Woohoo! I don’t know about your home, but I haven’t quite adjusted to the early mornings yet. My dog, Howard, decided several weeks ago to get up at 4:30 AM to eat breakfast, actually to get up and demand breakfast. Since I could go back to sleep for a nice chunk of time after feeding him, I caved in to his demands. Not a good idea because he has become accustomed to waking up at 4:30 AM and since I now have to get up at 5 AM, there is no time to go back to sleep. Oh boy. There is no one to blame except myself. I am now paying for my inability to ignore Howard’s demands, and it is going to take a lot of work to create a new wake up time for him.
I can think back about times in my life when I did the same thing with my own children. It was easier to give in to a demand in the moment, but in the end, I always created extra work to correct a behavior, and it would often damage my relationship with my kids in the correction process. I’ve had a lot of practice parenting with my kids so you would think I would know better than to give in to my dog! But alas, mistakes are a part of life and super valuable when we can reflect on them to improve future choices and behavior. So now I have a choice, suffer through some early morning barking for an inconvenient amount of time or wake up 30 minutes early forever. I’m the only one with the power to change Howard’s behavior. New habits are hard to establish. Good behavior is hard to establish. Good parenting is hard to do every single day. Parenting itself is hard to do every single day. But once habits and behavior are established, they are easier to maintain than to change. It’s my choice, some hard work for a couple of weeks, or frustration forever. Ask me in October if I had the courage and stamina to put in the hard work to retrain Howard.
Praying courage and stamina to all of you in your parenting roles. As a school family, let’s support and encourage each other as we journey through this year of life together. Happy 2024-2025 School Year to you all!!!
Many blessings,
Mrs. Lew
He has shown you what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NIV