The Wood Between the Worlds

It's the new buzzword around our house. (You should try it!)
No seriously...it is only half way through the year already, but I have found our family 'word of the year.' It was a light bulb that went off in my head, an epiphany, inspiration that lead me to this word.

Let me explain...for years now I have had two boys that are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They both have this loving side that they they show me and others...where they sincerely show love. But then when it comes to sharing toys, following directions, responding to other's requests, etc. They only do what they want to do. For years they've been this way and for years I've been puzzled why! Why don't they follow my directions when I know they love me? Why don't they share toys when I know they love their friends? I finally figured it out! They did not know what respect was and how to tie their love to their actions through respect. Maybe this seems obvious to some of you out there...and maybe even some of you have been screaming this at me inside your heads for years...I don't know and I don't really care. What I do know and care about is that the boys now understand that if you love someone (and they love everyone, believe me) you respect them, and you show them respect by the way you treat them.

We are now going to talk about respect every day, pray for it in all of our prayers, and everyone in our home will try their hardest to show respect. I've already seen it work tonight as they got their pajamas on the quickest I've ever seen them. Boy howdy am I happy!

I think that the most amazing thing about raising boys (since I grew up in a household of all girls) is realizing that they don't always catch onto things the way that girls do. Girls are so much more conscientious. I guess that is why this took so long to dawn on me.