Day 1: AWAKE

Today is the first day of the Ten Days of Intentional Parenting exercise. "It's about being awake. Aware. It's a simple exercise in examining what you do well and what you'd like to see change as a parent...The Challenge: Spending a set amount of time with just the kids." The goal is to help me really focus in on the lives that I am blessed to mother.

Five things I love about how I mother:

1.  Consistent with discipline
2.  Reading together and daily Bible studies
3.  Teaching basic skills
4.  Simplicity - focusing on what matters
5.  Choosing to be a stay-at-home-mom - living every day life with my kiddos

Five things I would like to change about how I mother:

1.  Initial response to disobedience
2.  Need to show more grace
3.  Too much emphasis on personal time
4.  One-on-one time with the kids
5.  Use all circumstances to point the kids towards Jesus

For the Challenge, I spent time reading to the kids. They are always asking me to read to them and I tell them 'later' way too often. So, they picked out a couple of books each and we laid on the bed for about 45 min before getting around for bed. It was so nice to just relax with the kids and their books.

Finding Joy Blog: Day 1: Awake