Raising Positive Kids

When I told my oldest daughter that I was taking a blogging class, she posted her remarks to my facebook page. It read something like "my mom blogging lol....... " I replied that she had better be careful or else my first blog would be about raising 'difficult' children like her! !! ! She replied, "Me difficult? Ha! I'm freakin capable (another one of our inside jokes). What is difficult is living with you my Mrs. Positive Attitude Mother!"
So Jamie, in your honor, I am going to share our Find One Thing Positive family story! As a note to other parents reading this.....be careful what you say to your children. They really are listening!
I will admit I am a self proclaimed, personal development junkie! I believe in having a positive mental attitude and I try to look for the blessings or positive moments in every difficult situation. To those who do not share my views, this can be a most annoying habit, especially if you just want to sit on your pity pot and be miserable for awhile.
When my kids were in elementary school, they would often come home complaining when I asked them about their day. I'd listen to their long list of woes about how hard math class was and how stupid they thought school was. They'd whine about friends and bounce ball games and recess disagreements. When I finally had my fill of negative news reporting, I'd poise my favorite statement, "So, name one thing that was good about school today!"
They would often groan out loud and mutter , "Nothing."
Not to be one to let them off easy, I would push and prod until they could name at least one positive thing about their day. True, there were some days that we simply acknowledged that there was enough oxygen for them to breath. Searching for anything more was not worth more agitation. But there were many more days that they found something to be grateful for or they quit complaining so they would not have to feel positive out loud with me!
I wasn't trying to be the poster child for positivity, I just know that what you focus on grows. If you focus on only the bad things that happen in your day, you can bet you will get more bad days. If you look for the good in the world, then you can find good in any situation. Gratitude is an attitude! We train our brain to find whatever we are looking for.
But I have to tell the rest of the story. I came home from work one night after a particularly bad day. I was cranky and was telling Jamie all about my terrible day as I made supper. She listened politely for awhile and just as I reached for a two pound bag of noodles on the top shelf
she hit me with that now famous phrase, "So tell me one good thing that happened to you today!"
I snapped back the next famous line, "Nothing!" as the open bag of macaroni noodles began to rain down on my head. I had noodles in my hair, on the floor, on the stove, under the burners, and all over my kitchen. Jamie would not let me off easy. She asked me again to find one positive thing. I scooped up a handful of noodles and tossed them at her. Soon we were laughing and having an all out noodle food fight in the kitchen. And I did find some things to be thankful for like daughters who make me laugh and lessons that I can learn from.