Are you raising kids who are resilient and can bounce back from tough situations? Here are some questions to thinkg about?
What does your family do when it rains during your entire vacation?
Does your child remember all of the great meals you cooked or the one you burned so badly that the fire alarm went off?
What if you head to the wrong airport for a family vacation and have to quickly drive to the other airport or pay $1000? (Okay, that happened to us!)
When The Great Earthquake of 2011 hit the East Coast (the one that made all of the West Coast people laugh). I’d traveled with my 2 boys to visit a dear friend (Bernadette) in New Jersey. While making my way back home, we stopped at a McDonalds to use the bathroom. Not one to let my kids to go in a bathroom alone…. I have before, but this time didn’t feel right. I made them come into the Ladies Room with me. One went in one stall and the other stood outside my door.
I was about to take care of business when my door started to rattle, I asked my eldest to please stop shaking it and he said “It wasn’t me”. I turned around and the water in the toilet was sloshing back and forth. I thought….
Oh No, I’m going down in a McDonalds bathroom!
No one was hurt so we had a good laugh, listened to the news and also realized that satellites and cell phones were not working correctly. We kept traveling and entered Maryland, made one final stop (so I thought) and continued on our way. I called my mom and at the same time the gas light came on. She told me to stop for gas and I thought I’d make it. (remember: your mom is always right). Little did I know that I’d hit 2 more hours of traffic before I’d get home.
I ended up pulling off on an exit with no plan and no sign of a gas station. I drove up and down small roads, tried the GPS on my phone but it wasn’t working correctly, and basically started freaking out. Fortunately, my youngest had fallen asleep because I felt like I was turning into Crazy Mama.
I finally asked my son to start praying that we’d find a gas station. Sitting in the way back of my minivan he prayed silently without stopping. God answered and nestled in the woods along the Potomac River was a Gas Station! Hooray!
Thank you God for answering our prayers and taking care of even our littlest needs. Please help me to stop in my busy-ness and stress and lift my worries up to you, just like my child showed me. (from MOPS International’s Mom-Email 11/14/11)
One more family story:
Flying to Florida the first time, my youngest threw up all over himself. We had nothing to change him into, so I took my cardigan and made it into his pant legs. It worked. Of course, he couldn’t walk – but at least he didn’t look naked!
What crazy times in your life have become adventure stories that are repeatedly told at your house?
Notes and reflections on Janet Mancini’s talk on “Purposeful Mothering”
Love those stories 🙂 I feel like our life is a constant disaster waiting to be turned into an adventure. Unfortunately, I don’t always see the humor in it (nor do my kids). Like when they got stuck in the bathroom (alone!) at a local taco place and we thought they were going to have to knock the doors down. They came out choking back their tears saying “That stunk. Really, mommy, it stunk bad in there!” They also informed me that they wouldn’t laugh about that incident for a LONG time. 🙂
I love that story Heather and it made me laugh! 🙂 I also remembered how happy your girls were to see rain in Virginia after months of not seeing a drop in Texas. They ran, played, and had a super time! Tell them I don’t like to get stuck in the bathroom either!!!!