Years ago one of my children's teachers called me a "helicopter mom." She suggested I swooped in to save the day with forgotten homework or permission slips. More recently a therapist called me an "enabler." These labels are actually pretty acurate. My husband says I would perform CPR on our kids if they ever tired of breathing. He's probably right. I wish I was better at teaching my children self reliance, I'm working on it.
For this reason my oldest son, who is preparing to leave for college and then serve an LDS mission, has decided he ought to be sure he is capable of negotiating life on his own. He has set goals like cooking dinner for the family once a week and doing his own laundry.
We decided to start off easy. Our first recipie to conquer was chicken salad. My sister-in-law Megan gave me this recipie. It's to-die-for.
2 Cups chicken
2 Cups celery (sliced thin)
1 Cup mayo
2 Tablespoons onion flakes
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Teaspoon Accent
1 Teaspoon salt
We like it best served on Costco croissants. Enjoy!
That's How You Know
1 week ago
Sounds like your kids are turning out okay to me! Any kid that would voluntarily set those goals must have a pretty great mom.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who was way into that love and logic parenting style. I felt it was a bit overboard when she made him do hard labor to pay back a kind teacher who paid for his pizza-party money one day. Did I mention he was in pre-school? Sheesh!
You are on the right track. I'm not sure I did too much right as a mother but all of my kids could cook, shop for groceries, do laundry, change tires, jump a battery and run all home-related equipment. They felt so good once they left home and had to teach their friends how to do these things.
ReplyDeleteAl this and Al that...Suze you talk about Al all the time...what about your other kids. They deserve a post...sheeesh.
ReplyDeletejk i love you
I guess Al is on my mind these days as we prepare to send him on his way. BUT - may I suggest SWEET 16 AND A SINGLE PARENT, MUCKUS, and ONE, TWO, DANCIN WITH YOU if you'd like to read posts about my other three amazing kids.
ReplyDelete