Once Upon a Time...

I find television to be very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.  

~Groucho Marx

As parents I think it is natural for most of us to make mental lists of valuable lessons that we hope to instill in our children.  Lessons that will take root in their character and flourish in the the world around them as they grow from childhood into adulthood.  Some of them are simple - yet incredibly valuable:

Be kind to others,

Recognize the needs of those around you and lend a hand,

Comfort those who are hurt or sad,

Put others first,

Master the art of cooking, cleaning, laundry and babysitting so that mom can take a nap....OK, maybe that's on the fantasy list, and not the practical/important/character-building one, but one can dream can't they????

Then one day, your kids go beyond walking and chewing gum at the same time and they surprise you with all of their goodness sprinkled with brilliance. And then you feel guilty for being surprised by their goodness (and brilliance), because you've been hyper-focused on catching the naughty stuff and correcting, teaching, correcting some more, all the while missing the goodness.

Goodness as in your six year old recognizes one day that you are frantically trying to conquer a mountain of laundry, clip coupons and transform a pound of hamburger into a feast for 7, while your little newborn refuses to accept the pacifier for just five more minutes. Goodness as in your six year old decides to demonstrate perfect possession of your mental list of virtues and gives you those five minutes, by abandoning the pacifier idea and reverting to story time.

Ahhh, story time.  Of course!  Story time brings calm!...

Story time brings peace!  Story time restores patience!  Story time makes us happy!

And, sometimes, story time puts us to SLEEP!!!

Thank you, George, for reading "Big Max" to Charles.  Thanks to your quick-thinking, noble effort and love-motivated rescue success, tonight we will have BBQ meatballs and tomorrow you will have clean underwear!!