Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a slight problem with pop culture/celebrities. A slight addiction problem that is. I don't know what it is, I just can't get enough. Perhaps it is a fascination with the gobs of money they have, or maybe it is the train wreck element some stars have. Whatever it is, it is a welcome distraction from the sometimes mundane life I lead, and I welcome the diversion.
With that said, I had a hard time, this past week, turning away from the star with tiger blood and Adonis DNA (his words not mine)-Charlie Sheen. First it was hard to turn away because he was EVERYWHERE! If you turned on the tv, radio or read a newspaper, there he was. I do have a problem with the media using his spiraling down turn to get ratings, but with quotes like, "I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars," it's hard not to peek at the crazy.
When I wasn't counting how many times Charlie Sheen used "duh" and "winning" in his interviews this week, I was discovering the importance of leading by example. On Thursday night, I took Bella and Becca to pack food with an organization called, "Feed My Starving Children." If you are not familiar with "FMSC", they are a Christian non profit that ships food to countries all over the world. We spent two hours making food packets that contained a blend of chicken (flavoring), dried veggies, soy, and rice. Becca and Harry have been to FMSC many times in the past, but this was Bella's first experience. I spent a lot of time discussing why we were packing the food and where it was going. We also talked about why it is important to do things to help others. Before you pack the food, they show videos of kids who receive the food and how much they need it to avoid starvation. No matter how many times I have seen that video, it always brings tears to my eyes and makes me thankful for my life. Bella spent some of the night putting rice in bags, but she found her true calling in organizing the bags in stacks before they were packed into boxes. As usual she was a super hard worker. The photo of the whiteboard shows how much our group accomplished during our shift.
Leading by example as a parent is not always easy. Sometimes it takes all the strength we can muster up. All week, Harry has been doing an Mosaic art project. I am being kind when I refer to it as "the project from hell". He has had to use magazines to cut 1/4 inch pieces of paper into various puzzle shapes to fit together on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper to create a mosaic design. Needless to say the process has been slow and tedious. In fact it has taken nearly a week to get half of the background done. The due date is this coming Thursday so he is now in crunch time to finish. Harry hates doing the mosaic and I can't really blame him. So yesterday his duty was to work on his project and mine was to clean the house, something that I hate just about as much as the idea of doing a mosaic project. As I cleaned, I told Harry that sometimes we have to do things we don't like. It's just part of life. More lessons to be learned today because neither the mosaic nor the cleaning is complete.
As I read over some of Charlie's infamous quotes of the week, I found one that struck a nerve- “Lead by example, teach your kids right and wrong, and if my right and wrong is a little different than everybody else’s, my kids are going to be a little different, too!" I'm pretty sure Charlie and I differ on the type of examples we want to provide for our children, but I felt a small parental bond reading the quote.
As parents, we try our best, even at our lowest points, right? Duh! Winning!
With that said, I had a hard time, this past week, turning away from the star with tiger blood and Adonis DNA (his words not mine)-Charlie Sheen. First it was hard to turn away because he was EVERYWHERE! If you turned on the tv, radio or read a newspaper, there he was. I do have a problem with the media using his spiraling down turn to get ratings, but with quotes like, "I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars," it's hard not to peek at the crazy.
Leading by example as a parent is not always easy. Sometimes it takes all the strength we can muster up. All week, Harry has been doing an Mosaic art project. I am being kind when I refer to it as "the project from hell". He has had to use magazines to cut 1/4 inch pieces of paper into various puzzle shapes to fit together on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper to create a mosaic design. Needless to say the process has been slow and tedious. In fact it has taken nearly a week to get half of the background done. The due date is this coming Thursday so he is now in crunch time to finish. Harry hates doing the mosaic and I can't really blame him. So yesterday his duty was to work on his project and mine was to clean the house, something that I hate just about as much as the idea of doing a mosaic project. As I cleaned, I told Harry that sometimes we have to do things we don't like. It's just part of life. More lessons to be learned today because neither the mosaic nor the cleaning is complete.
As I read over some of Charlie's infamous quotes of the week, I found one that struck a nerve- “Lead by example, teach your kids right and wrong, and if my right and wrong is a little different than everybody else’s, my kids are going to be a little different, too!" I'm pretty sure Charlie and I differ on the type of examples we want to provide for our children, but I felt a small parental bond reading the quote.
As parents, we try our best, even at our lowest points, right? Duh! Winning!
Hi! Stopping by from MBC. Great blog.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice day!
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI think I should be getting e-mails now when you post new articles. The feedburner had an issue the first time and hopefully, it's been resolved. I got a confirmation! Let's hope!
I did the canned good distribution with my son when he was 3 at the OC Rescue Mission. It was a great way to learn separating fruits/veggies/meat too...Tomato is a fruit and boy we had a lot of those in both veggie and fruit piles. Beans, protein- meat pile. It was a great learning experience about feeding the less fortunate and what category the food falls.
Ah, projects- I swear, it feels like I've been doing laundry ALL DAY and it still isn't completed! We have teacher appreciation and it was so difficult to get my 1st grader to write a couple of nice sentences and draw he and the teacher doing something. He did a fantastic drawing of them on a roller coaster. However, I had to basically tell him what to write...it still took 3 hours! Argh! Our homework packet did not get completed. (notice how I said "our" and not his.)
Sandi :)
http://ahhsome.wordpress.com