I’ve been sharing photos from the past, showing you HOW we TRAINED AHEAD when the kids were YOUNG. (if your kids are not so “young” right now, it’s NOT too late..start now.)
Would you like to see the FRUIT of TRAINING? .
I hope this gives you a VISION of what YOUR children can do. Stay true to training to their heart. When you “entertain” the kids should be TRAINED AHEAD that this is ABOUT OTHERS, not about impressing others. Be careful, because if you rant and rave and expect perfection out of them then they will NOT enjoy entertaining or know the goals of SERVING and BLESSING others. Your abruptness, ugliness, or YELLING will simply teach them it’s not worth the effort to clean their home and serve others.
We hosted a par-tay in our home for the youth at our church. (Partay seems to be the newest way to say party, so I’m goin’ with it.)
Here are a few pictures of the students PLAYING. (girrrrrllll, I’ll have to tell you more about this game. It’s called NINE SQUARE IN THE AIR and the kids LOVE it and play it for hours!)
and then there’s volleyball, rope swing, basketball.. Isn’t my husband lovely to push the girls like this. I’m probably tending to someone’s scraped knee.
HOSPITALITY TIP: when having a partay, keep band-aids near the door or the kitchen, along with neosporin or spray, and Advil or your fav headache medicine. This will save you many steps.
Partay-ing is fun, but it takes a lot of work to make it happen…and the training to do it easily with all hands on deck without ANY complaining didn’t happen overnight.
Here are some pictures of SOME of what took place the morning of the party . I want this to encourage you with setting a VISION of what YOU will also have in your home and in the hearts of your children.
So, here’s the FRUIT of training ’em young.
This is my husband, the grill master, who happens to be mentoring Heather in the area of FINE SEASONING. She’s marinating the chicken with all kinds of spices. She also mowed the yard on a big riding mower, spray painted the lines for the volleyball court, and helped make chocolate covered strawberries.. and more.
This is Laura. She’s 14. She JUST learned how to use this blower- from her older brother who was the MENTOR to her, in this case, and was away at college. Laura blowed (or is it “blew”) the driveway, porch and pool deck. She also helped clean the house, wash some of the main windows, cleaned the pool (well, part of it.. mentoring is still taking place here), helped set up tables and chairs, and made chocolate covered oreos, among other things.
This is Kelsey. She’s 18. She vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, refilled toilet paper and paper napkins in all bathrooms, hung up signs (like “use THIS door.”), took a sign PARTAY to the driveway, helped set up tables and chairs, made sure the volleyballs and basketballs were pumped and ready, and just helped wherever needed WITHOUT me ever saying the next thing to do.
Training Ahead, mentoring… keeping a calm demeanor and voice.. accepting less than perfection.. with the GOAL (training to the heart) of SERVING and BLESSING others, will result in this..
Remember this. When YOU YELL or get stressed – it’s because you’re thinking of YOURSELF!!! AHHHH!!!)
Rhonda don’tdelay;havesomeoneovertoday ellis
Rhonda, good stuff. I found myself amazed when we’d have kids over for a weekend at the lake and their parents were out there hauling in all the boating toys that their kids used that weekend rather than teaching their kids. Then they made the beds for them etc. Great skills to know how to prepare for company and an event…makes you appreciate it when you are the guest!
Hi Lesley, Great to hear from you. Yes, yes.. always use opportunities to teach the kids. I have to remind myself of this from time to time.. as in YESTERDAY, when I found that we ate dinner and then I was left alone washing dishes.. WHAT, WHAT? Time to REteach – everyone come and help and let’s ALL relax together afterwards.