This year has been a weird year for me in terms of emotions
when it comes to Braden. He’s in 5th grade, which means he’ll go to
middle school next year. I don’t feel at all prepared for that! Some days I
think he’s ready to move out and get his own place. Other days I’m not certain
he’ll be able to make it from math class to the lunch room by himself next
year. And he turned 11 yesterday, which makes him an official pre-teen. I
texted the following to my girlfriends yesterday evening “Day 1 assessment of
having a pre-teen… they are sweet cherub faced little angels until Satan
whispers into their ears because he has a direct line to their souls.” So that’s
going well… All of their kids are younger so I needed them to know what they
have to look forward to. Hehe (#sorryNotSorry)
And over the past 11 years I have focused so much on making Braden
into a good human. You know, the kind that doesn’t grow up to demand gifts back
from children during a break up (yes, that was Captain Jackass. No I did not
return items he had gifted to my children because honestly who does that…???
That was a low blow even for him). The kind that doesn’t post passive
aggressive memes about their exes on social media (you guessed it, Captain
Jackass again. I imagine it wasn’t me he was referring to since I have taken
pain staking steps to stay away from him. But who knows. He’s a bit narcissistic and thinks everything
is about him, so… He did contact me after the last blog via a video chat app. No
clue what he said because I deleted the entire app shortly after I received the
notification. I imagine he didn’t have nice things to say to me. But whoever is
sending him the blog, keep it up. Knowing I am irritating him brings joy to my
day. Is that a little juvenile of me? Probably. But look, Jesus and I just got
on the same page about not hating him, so baby steps. And to reiterate my
feelings on the subject, when you knowingly and willingly lie to my children
thus causing them pain, you get what you deserve. Ok, now back to the
originally scheduled programming…) The kind that grows up to be responsible,
have a job, make a good living, gives back to the world he lives in. I want
Braden to be kind and compassionate. I want him to be a good mate for someone
someday. Obviously I want that for both of my kids, but Amelia’s birthday wasn’t
yesterday, so it’s not her turn. ;)
But I think sometimes we as parents get so focused on making
sure our kids are equipped to be good humans, we forget to equip them to be
adults. The kind that know how to make a bank deposit and stop a toilet from
overflowing. Braden recently became a Boy Scout (what what!!), but before he
did and got his super achiever badge in Cub Scouts. That means he earned every
badge possible for a Webelos and Arrow of Light to earn in his last two years
of scouts. One of those badges was a Mr. Fit It badge. It clued me in on just
how far I had to go on teaching my kiddos the facts of life. So if you’re like
me and may need a little reminder of things that your kids won’t just wake up
and know how to do one day, I’ve listed some of the bigger ones below that
stuck out to me.
1 1) Change a tire – I haven’t show Braden how to do
this yet, but I’ll never forget the first time I changed a tire. It was the
summer before I went to college. I was 18 and supposed to have lunch with my
dad. I went out to the car and the tire was flat. I changed it and went to meet
him. When I arrived late and told him why he asked how I had gotten there. I
told him I’d put the donut on. He was astounded!! As in couldn’t believe I
could change a tire. I informed him that there were instructions printed on the
inside of the car and I just read them and changed the tire. To this day I’m
not sure he believes me. But guys, at some point, teach your kid how to change
a flat. Even in the age of AAA and cell phones one day they may end up down a
dirt road with no service and nothing but their wits to go on. Don’t leave it
to chance!
2) Y’all for the love of all things please teach your children how to shut
off an overflowing commode before the leave your house for good… I’m serious
when I say this, I was on a trip with a house full of women once and one of
them overflowed the toilet. I heard some commotion and came to check it out and
water is pouring onto the bathroom floor and everyone is freaking out because there
was “no man here to fix it.” Y’all!!! I waded through the toilet water in my
bare feet to turn the water off. Seriously. I’m not even asking you to teach
your kids how to use a plunger, but you should not make it into the real world
without knowing how to stop toilet water from cascading onto your bathroom
floor. While you’re at it watch a few YouTube videos and figure out how to do
easy fixes to a toilet yourself. Say it with me – Youtube is my friend =)
3) Change the battery in a smoke alarm. And not
only that, to keep an extra pack of 9volt batteries around. Always! I taught
Braden how to change the batteries earlier this year. He isn’t allowed to climb
the ladder unsupervised, so it doesn’t really help me when the alarm starts
chirping in the middle of the night, but one day his future roomates will thank
me. And can I just reiterate to all the new mama’s out there – sleep training
your children is so important! Mine have bedrooms on the opposite end of the
house and their smoke alarm chirping wakes me up, but not them. Mine could
probably sleep through a freight train. Just saying – sleep training infants is
important for your sanity through the toddler years.
5) I can’t even believe that I’m suggesting this,
but teach your kiddos how to use the microwave. I’ve had kiddos over to my
house that couldn’t. It perplexes me…A lot!
6) Change an air filter. Again, Braden is not
allowed to be on the ladder by himself, but he now knows how to change and air
filter. And how often (monthly for those of you who may still not have reached
that level of maturity yet). My mother bought a house here a few years ago and
I swear the air filter hadn’t been changed since the house was built. Don’t let
this be the type of house your future grandchildren are raised in because you
didn’t teach your kids the how and when =) Along the same vane, if you have a
septic tank you might want to mention to your kids the whole RidX once a month
thing. I had never heard of that until we had a septic tank once in Georgia. It
could have ended very badly…
7) Back to the automobile, teach your kiddos how to
check tire pressure and oil levels. Nothing earth shattering here, but car care
is important for the long run of your vehicle. Also the whole rotating tires every 5K miles thing. There
are so many things that we take for granted that we just know, but someone at
some point told us. Pass it on.
8) Open your kid a savings account. Some banks have
special accounts for kids under a certain age. Teach them to SAVE! But also,
teach them to actually go into the bank and make a transaction. Mine both have
savings accounts. I encourage them after birthdays and Christmas to deposit
money into their savings accounts. Sometimes they need a little prodding as to
the amount =) But they get excited knowing how much they have in their
accounts. I make them go in, fill out the form, and do the transaction with the
teller each time. I have also added a little incentive to make it worth their
while. When each of them reaches $1000 in their accounts, I’ll add an extra
$100 to it. To kids that’s like a million bucks!
9) Laundry – Y’all I never did a single load of
laundry until college. My college boyfriend found it supremely amusing that I
got into Georgia Tech and did not know how to do laundry =) Show your kids. I
promise if they are in school, they are big enough. At least to fold. Both of
mine now do their own (time permitting).
10) Other random house stuff – Teach them how to
tighten a handle, check and flip a fuse, locate the fuse box, change a
lightbulb. I know some of this sounds really crazy and common sense, especially
the lightbulb thing, but y’all if you’ve never done it, you might not know.
Plus some folks have a bigger bowl of common sense than others…
Feel free to add things you think the tiny humans should
know before they are no longer tiny in the comments. I’m sure there are TONS I
haven’t specifically thought of today. We are all in this together, creating a
better world for our kiddos. So share all the things. And just because it is
fun we are back this week with a new Broadway song (from Into the Woods – great
show if you ever get the chance!!)
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