Monkey see, Monkey do...

... and boy do my little monkeys do what they see. I have noticed just how closely our children watch us. How they do the very things they see us doing... good and bad. An example of the negative side... I remember all too well the first time I heard one of our kids say a four letter word! "where did you hear that word!?!" I demanded. "You mommy." I didn't remember saying it, but obviously I had. They picked up on this new word with lightening speed! But, this fine tuned ability to pick up on everything we say and do can be a positive thing too... I always hated reading as a kid. Hated it! But, I really wanted my children to enjoy reading. I was listening to a radio program about parenting and I heard that if you want your children to cultivate positive habits they need to see you doing it too. So, I picked up a book and started reading! Before long I started to enjoy reading because I found books on topics that I cared about (mostly parenting books in the beginning). And sure enough... before long I noticed the kids were wanting to read! They would sit right next to me with their own books!! They read the ones they could and they wanted to learn how to read bigger words, longer books. It worked! I have found the same to be true when it comes to spirituality. When I started making time to read my bible during the day, they also wanted to read their bibles. When I wanted to go to church, they wanted to. And when I began to pray in front of them, prayer became something they did on a daily basis. They're watching!!!