Litterless lunches are the way to go, and this reusable bento-ware lunch system makes it a snap. I still wish all those lunches would just pack themselves, but short of that, having Laptop Lunches to work with is the next best thing.
At some point, every child doesn’t make the team, gets cut from choir, or just doesn’t have what it takes for the competitive dance troupe or cheer team. This disappointment will happen, and we’ve certainly experienced it in our household.
I’m quite proud of how my kiddos have handled this kind of disappointment, so I got to thinking about what we’ve done that may have made our kids cope fairly well in these very upsetting situations.
I recently had what I thought was a private conversation with my brother and SIL. They asked how I thought my kid who was starting hockey would do. My response was “Well, it should be interesting since he SUCKS at skating.” Now, not normally a big deal, right? That’s what I thought until his older sister admitted overhearing. She pulled me aside and expressed her disappointment at hearing me talk about her little brother like that. Ouch. I dug myself out of that hole with apologies and explanations around how the words were not meant for kids’ ears.
My father died in December. He had spent the last several years very unwell, and my mother spent a lot of her time taking care of him. That is a difficult situation for any family, but it is even more difficult when the person you are caring for continuously makes choices that contribute to their bad health. And so, although he was a loved man, the result was a team of fairly frustrated family members.
