Encouragement

In the past week or so I have started something new. I try to give each of my children some sort of encouragement as I leave for work. It is usually something I know they are needing to work on or something they are struggling with. Like not complaining, or being kind to everyone during the day, or finishing their chores with integrity and a good work ethic. I didn't really know how well this would work or how quickly I would even see any benefits if there were going to be any visible benefits. I assumed that there would be some sort of benefit, I mean, how could daily encouragement not help someone?

I have seen a very quick example of the immediate benefits. This morning we were off kilter with the schedule as I had to take my 11 year old to his first orthodontist appointment to get his braces on (ugh). Since the schedule was all wonky, I forgot to give the daily dose of encouragement. Well, tonight I got home from work and my wife was very frustrated with the day. Chores were slacked all around and there were some behavior issues during the day. I am not going to completely fool myself into believing that this was because I didn't encourage them this morning. That the rest of the week, that was pretty decent overall with them (not perfect but decent I think), was because of my morning encouragement. I am going to believe that the encouragement added to their attitudes of success and maybe pushed them in that direction some. I think it would work for me if someone encouraged me daily in what I needed for that day.

So, I will continue to give the encouragement and I believe I will continue to see success in them as I do. It also keeps me in tune with what's going on with the kids and what they are dealing with as I try to tailor the encouragement to each of them and their needs/struggles. I want to encourage each of you dads (and moms) to try it, too. It certainly cannot hurt them or you and is actually a pretty satisfying experience to know you are giving them a boost every day.