When My Daughter Taught Me a Lesson

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I’m no supermom. I’ll never be. I try my darndest to guide my 5-year-old daughter, Ellie, in the best way possible. We raise her with the parenting perspective of a Christian (previous post here) 

Now, I do not shout my faith on the rooftops. I do NOT go around advertising that I’m a Christian on my day to day walk. I mean, hey, walking up to someone and saying- “Jesus loves you!” is not only awkward, it can be scary. What if they reject me? What if they think I’m crazy?

Well, I AM crazy. 

One morning a couple weeks ago, my daughter woke up with ONE thing on her mind…

“Mommyyyyy,” she comes running into my bedroom, happy as can be. She hops on my bed, jumping up and down. ” Can we PLEASEEEEE make cookies?!”

Geeze, I need caffeine. “Let’s get some breakfast first.” I yawn. 

She didn’t want to hear it. I won’t spill out our entire conversation. She refused to eat breakfast until we made those cookies.

Baking makes her so happy!

“I want to give them to my neighbors!!!” I honestly didn’t know what to say when she said that to me. At first, I wanted to say no. Then, I felt guilty. She has a heart of gold, and she really does feel for the people around her.I luckily had all the ingredients.  Ellie is at the age now where she wants to do it all. She’s a perfectionist and extremely meticulous. She also LOVES to work the mixer (and steal a couple licks with her finger, because who doesn’t?!). She carefully, with instruction, placed every cookie on the cookie sheets.

Once they were baked and cooled, they were ready to be put into baggies. She helped me with every single one. It was HER idea to write “Jesus loves you!” on every bag. My heart was fluttering by this point, I’m really doing this. 

We slip on some shoes and head out into the hallway. I hope no one comes out here, I think. She taped a bag on every single door in our building, happily, grinning from ear to ear.  I was astounded by her heart and her love towards others. My attitude was changing, when I received a text from a close friend to “tell our neighbors the truth” if they ask questions.  He was right! 

Taping them to the door. She wanted to do it all herself!

Is it a little weird to pass out home-baked cookies to our neighbors? In today’s crazy world, it may be. Why would I let that deter me? Ellie simply wanted to spread love, to make others happy. To do GOOD (and baking cookies is fun!). Her heart was pure and her motives were in the right place. 

My daughter taught ME a lesson. I need to be more purposeful in sharing my faith. I need to share love more often. This world can be so dark, so scary, SO negative. This world needs light.  Sometimes Mommy’s can learn something too.

I want to be myself but at the same time step out of my comfort zone a little I found a couple neat websites that give you ideas to do some good around you.  Here is one and here is the other.

Cheese! My happy girl. My heart is so full.

We went back inside and started our regular, everyday routine. We had a late breakfast (in case anyone was wondering! I figured someone may ask.  I do feed my kid).

What lessons have your children taught you?

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Melissa Long
I have a small 3 person family- my 6 year old little girl, Ellie and my husband Matt. I have 3 fur babies, my dog Jack-Jack ( Dachshund) and my two cats Harry and Mickey. I have battled infertility for a while, and I am willing to talk with any woman in the same battle. I work Full time as a teacher at a local daycare. I am a University of Cincinnati student. I'm finishing up my Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education! Never too late to go for a dream folks. In my free time, I enjoy: church, all things Disney, reading, writing and quiet times with my family. I'm a simple girl! It does not take very much to make me happy. You will see me at the grocery store with my messy bun and yoga pants on, that's for sure.

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