Monday, August 26, 2013

Tenacity

Stick-to-it-ness.  Who doesn't want that?  Kids and, let's admit it, adults have natural tenacity when it is something we enjoy.  But when it is something mundane, difficult, or unpleasant?  (Laundry, anyone??). Not so much.  Now you Type-A folks may disagree, but realize I am writing from a non-Type-A perspective...about as far from Type-A as you can get.

I have kids who are tenacious, who have drive and gusto and determination to finish the task.  I also have kids who would rather watch TV.  They are the tough ones to school and to train because they give up easily.  So how do I teach tenacity?

By being tenacious

I try to model it so that I can expect the same from them.  I read books that are difficult.  (Still working on Les Miserables.  Hopefully I will finish it during this decade!). I work the same math problem with them 832 times until they get it.  If I don't know the answer to something they see me research until I find it.  And when I just can't do it I pray for help.  (Probably should do that to start with, right?)
Tenacity is hard for me to teach because it is not a natural thing for me.  I have a long history, especially in my early walk with Christ, of giving up or stopping short of the goal. 

I want better for my kids.

And here I sit again, marveling at the grace of God. As He urges me on in parenting, prompting me to focus on these character traits, I realize He is building these things in me as well.  I am most definitely a work in progress.  What a relief to experience the patience of God and know that all the things He calls me to do as a mother must and will flow from His work in my own heart and life!

1 comment:

  1. Short goals to want to make that final goal. With a math worksheet, I'd see how quickly I could complete a row correctly. It of course got to be more of a challenge in junior high, but the foundation had been laid.

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