Putting Things Aside for Family

It is pretty common around here for me to end up passing on a project or task in order to accomplish something for one of my kids. I have a hard time telling one of them "NO" if I know that what they are asking is sincere and that it is something they need or really want to get done. I feel like if I do not help them at that point, they will have no other options.

In on way you could say this is akin to spoiling them. I have been acting in this manner for their entire lives. So if this is indeed spoiling them, then I suppose I am guilty. I know that is probably the case with my youngest daughter. Although people say that she is just a big "Daddy's Girl", I have a feeling that I just spoiled the crap out of her.

There have always been people who will preach the downfalls of doing this to your kids, but I don't see it. At least, not to the extent that they talk about. Many of these people will bring up kids who grow into adults that do not know how to get anything on their own. Or people who do not know how to deal with society as an individual because they are so used to having someone there to do things for them. I can see this and I have seen this. But in order for my kids to get like that I would have to do a lot more "spoiling" than I currently do.

Today I picked up a second gerbil for my youngest daughter. I had promised her this animal a few weeks ago and it was based on her accomplishing a few things as well as then completing a couple more. So in a way it was a reward for her doing something good. I always try to give them something to strive for and something to possibly gain if they complete their "mission". In this case it was keeping the room clean, working on maturity, and working on "how we talk to our parents" (she had an issue with a screaming match with mom). So yes, I might have went a bit overboard when we brought the little bugger home, but it is not like I just went out and bought it for her as some parents do.

When we brought the little gerbil home I had to clean out an aquarium that we had in the garage. Then I had to design and build a screened top for it that she would be able to lift and open and close. This took some time of course. The problem with this was, and the reason why I started writing about this in the first place, is that I had a full schedule for this evening. I ended up passing on the things that I had planned on doing just so I could handle the gerbil house construction.

While I just succeeded in making my tomorrow much busier than I wanted it to be, I also succeeded in making my little girl happy. So I think it is a win. And if I am super busy tomorrow I will survive. We all sacrifice for our kids and I am no different. This is just the most recent example of me putting myself out to make my kids happy, and I can tell you that it will not be the last.

Until next time...