Last week, I blogged about the first two things I RELearn every school year. If you want to catch up, it is HERE.

3. The Moment is NOW.  Don’t miss it.

Every minute is just that, sixty seconds and it is gone.

I may remember a minute, I may relive a moment in my mind, but it is over.  

The clock ticks it away.

My twenties are gone.

My thirties are gone.

My forties are gone.

Unless, I live until I am one hundred, I have lived more of my life than I have in front of me,

which makes me really think.

Am I in the moment?

How many moments of my children’s lives did I live in?

Fully there?

Totally present?

I am happy to say, many

I have had a blessed fifty years and spend 26 (almost 27) of them raising children.

Twenty years ago, I wasn’t facebooking, tweeting, emailing, messaging or looking up answers on Google.

The distractions in my life years ago were the dog barking, the trash truck going by or planning the dinner menu in my head.

Today, distractions are insistent, but there is only one NOW.

I must remind myself  that whatever it is, it can wait if I am the middle of something with a child whether it be a conversation, a confrontation, a learning moment- I must be IN the moment.

4. EVERYTHING doesn’t have to PERFECT in order for children to LEARN

Perfection.

Never achieved it.

Oh, I say, “today was perfect,” which really means I was content with my circumstances today.

If I am in search of perfection in order for my children to learn, then I should just abandon the mission.

There is no perfect schedule, perfect curriculum, to study after adorning the perfect outfit and preparing the perfect organic breakfast.

Get the perfect picture?

If by some odd improbability you do have the perfect day, statistics say it won’t happen two days in a row.

Stuff happens. Kids are cranky. Mom is cranky. I forget to make a breakfast menu and we have oatmeal three days in a row. I’m sharing personal stuff here!

A book is lost.

The washer breaks.

The internet is out.

Need I go on?

The TRUTH is- kids can learn in imperfect circumstances.

Better TRUTH- KIDS LEARN FROM IMPERFECT CIRCUMSTANCES.

Who are they going to look to for their first cue on how to respond?

MOM. DAD.

I’m not the master of being content regardless of my circumstances or content with my lot in life, of whatever sort that is, but I am learning.

I’m going to share a few examples of imperfect circumstances, please share your own!

One year we had a snow storm in October that knocked the power out for a week,  girls wore their ‘Little House on the Prairie’ attire and we celebrated pioneer days. Heating water, hanging out by the fireplace with candles galore.

All seven children came down with the flu one week.

We all camped out in the family room in sleeping bags with puke bowls.

I read aloud every day, all day for a week.

One more!

This is a repeating circumstance- road trips.

Talk about a petrie dish of imperfect.

How many books on cd did we listen to Guires?