When one of my children was preschool age, every day seemed to be a power struggle. I prayed about it a lot, and got a rather strange answer to my prayer. I felt inspired to watch Mr. Rogers with this child every day. We began planning our life around being home in time to cuddle up on the couch and watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and he changed our life.
Everyone in the family got into it. Even the older cousins would sit on the floor and watch with us if they were around, which was an incredibly awesome thing for them to do, because it allowed my older children to drop their "I'm too old for this" attitude and enjoy the show.
Mr. Rogers is no longer on any stations near my house. On a happier note, while doing a little research for this blog, I realized that you could go here to watch him on line! I feel like Mr. Rogers is role-playing the best parenting demonstration ever. But as I've learned about this great man, he has taught me about more than just parenting. He's taught me about not being afraid of creativity, about the discipline needed to be creative, about the good one passionate person can do in the world.
Here is just one of the quotes by Mr. Rogers that has helped me in my life:
I like to swim, but there are some days I just don't feel much like doing it--but I do it anyway! I know it's good for me and I promised myself I'd do it every day, and I like to keep my promises. That's one of my disciplines. And it's a good feeling after you've tried and done something well. Inside you think, "I've kept at this and I've really learned it--not by magic, but by my own work.
That quote fits how I felt about exercise and eating right last year. I'm fighting to get there again. I have exercise down again but I'm struggling with the food thing. Every time Damon is crying (he loves to cry) I head to the pantry. I'll get there, I've proven I can, now I just need to do it again.
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