Rolling With The Punches

Do you realize that we can…..we do….teach children…ATTITUDE?
From personal experience with 3 year old Joshua….who is constantly around HAPPY people….I see the results. Joshua is a happy child yet he has his moments of….attitude.
Reading my today’s Guidepost inspiration I find it very profound in this thought of…..attitude….
I quote from this reading of…..What Matters Most?
…..”We’ve talked about ‘rolling with the punches’ in our family since the kids were toddlers.
When things don’t turn out the way you want or expect, …go with the flow. If faced with circumstances you can’t control or change, don’t complain. Make the best of it, which minimizes the impact of the blow.
When you go to a birthday party and get the smallest piece of cake, you still say “thank you” in a nice…not grumpy…voice.
When the soccer coach asks you to play goalie, you play goalie, and only your mother knows that’s your most unfavorite position to play.
When it’s clean-up time, you help clean up, even when you know the other guy made most of the mess.
Much of life involves getting used to things not turning out the way we want or expect, or doing what we…. DON’T FEEL LIKE DOING!
And a lot of it happens within a family, where we have a choice:
To complain until everyone is miserable, or to roll with the punches and trust God, which minimizes the blow.
Both responses are contagious in a family.
That’s why rolling with the punches matters…..”
Correcting wrong attitude is the parents job….Teaching right attitude…is the parents job.
For example: Britt, Ashley and Joshua went to Target on Joshua’s Birthday after our Chuck E Cheese fun time….Tia Ash was planning to have Joshua pick out his own birthday present….
You guessed it….Joshua ‘coped an attitude’….began demanding this and that and in general pitching as we say in the South “a hissie fit”….
You can also, guess what Mommy decided….She took the choice out of his hand….”You will not get anything with THAT attitude! We are leaving”…And they did…
She taught him….’I do not REWARD bad behavior and attitude!’…..Driving away a contrite Birthday Joshua says his…”I’m sorry.” The girls then go to MacDonald’s having a snack and allowing Joshua to play on the playground.
Guess Ashley (and Mommy) did give him the best Birthday gift a three year old could get….a ’What Matters Most?’ gift….of Love…
Course, it will have to be taught again and again…..until it becomes ’his idea and attitude’…..of his own free will. Probably around 35 years of age!
Yes, Rolling With The Punches Matters….. Just ask Joshua!