Smile Everybody

If you want to know my feelings about the movie - read my comment to Emily.

In other news: I put a new vacation on my page. I added 1989, when we went to Canada for the first time. I also typed up all the recipes for Cookies made with Cookie Mix. (Nathan asked for that one.) I'm enjoying my Spring Break - soon I'll go into town and get everything I need to finish the bedroom curtains as well as some groceries for the next few days. Then I'll come home and do some sewing on those curtains. .

I found this talk on LDS Living. It's my contribution to FHE for this month.

Love ya,
MOM



Treat Your Children Like the People You Want Them to Become
When I was young, my mother always whispered sweet things into my ear at bedtime. She would always tell me what a special part of the family I was. This helped me feel confident and loved.

Your children will likely become whatever you tell them they will. I know a mother who is constantly telling her children they are brats, spoiled, rotten, and terrible. It’s true, sometimes they are, but her labels only make the problem worse. Once I was talking to one of her little boys, who said, “My mommy is mean. She thinks I’m terrible.” How sad! Another example is a friend’s daughter who has been labeled as having “an attitude problem.” The parents reinforce her attitude by constantly reminding her of it. This principle is true: Your children will become what you tell them they will, whether for good or for bad. When someone in our family speaks unkindly about another person or themselves, I have them say ten nice things to make up for it.

I listened to a motivational tape by Diane Bills, who tells about being an awkward teenager. Now she can look back at her pictures and laugh. However, whenever the other kids were being mean to her, she would come inside the house for validation, comfort, and love. Her mother would always tell her how beautiful she was, saying she was prettier than one of the best-looking girls in the school. Perhaps the mother was a little biased, but Diane believed her mother, and she did become a beautiful woman. Let’s make our homes a safe haven for our children.

A friend reminded me that we should tell our kids they are smart. Every time my daughter is told she is pretty, I say, “And she’s smart, too!” I also ask her things like, “How did you know that?” The answer is always, “Because I’m smart!” Recently my husband told her how beautiful she is. She countered, “Yes, Daddy, but I’m smart, too!”


-Tamara A. Fackrell