I’ve learned many things from my kids over the years. Here is a lesson I learned from my youngest son. When Kenji was about 3 years old, I read to him every night. Cat In The Hat, Go Dog Go, The Very Hungry Caterpillar….. He would pick the book and point to the page he wanted me to read. Very often, this became quite frustrating for me. At times, Kenji would stop me half way through a book and choose another book. He would skip pages and sometimes he would point to the right-hand page before the left-hand page, so I was reading the story backward.
As adults, we grow to be very goal-oriented, and to reach our goal we follow logical steps. I found that not being able to finish Cat In The Hat after starting was a bit unsettling. Reading stories backward and skipping pages made me anxious. I tried to plow ahead with the story, but he would block my moves.
Finally, I understood what was happening. Kenji was just having fun. He didn’t feel bound to read A,B, C…..Z. If he wanted to read A,B,S,K… he would do that. He was enjoying the moment, and did not even care if we finished the story. Sometimes, we adults would do well to just enjoy the journey, and not worry too much about the end.
kk
June 29th, 2008
I just got scammed this week. I lost one of my On Task On Time for Kids to a woman claiming to be a journalist writing an article about “Back-to-school Products.” As soon as I sent my sample, I was alerted on Mompreneursonline.com that this person was a fraud, and she “steals” from many mom-owned businesses asking for samples for a “photo shoot.” Of course there is no article; she just uses the products for her kids and home.
When it happened, I thought, “Well, I’m going to have to let it go and chalk it up to experience.” But after a day went by, I looked at it from a different point of view. We are all teachers and role models to our kids. Of all the jobs we hold in life, this is the biggest and most important. The messages on the Mompreneursonline community expressed so much concern for this con artist’s kids. What kind of role model was she? As an eight year old child, wouldn’t you die of embarrassment and shame if your mom were jailed as a thief? A bigger concern, though, is that she is teaching her kids through her actions that it is okay to steal and lie.
On my side of this, I shared with my kids, especially my daughter, what was going on. What kind of role model was I in letting this thing go? Plus, I really was as mad as heck, and I didn’t want this woman getting the benefits from my product by lying to me. So, with the information from a Mompreneur, I went to get my sample back! It was not about the money. I contacted people and shared information. Not only am I getting it back, I hope I have made it harder for her to scam again.
Life would be so simple if people just worked with honesty and decency. I’m still trying to understand this woman’s brain and trying to figure out how she as a mom and an entrepreneur can steal from other mom entrepreneurs with impunity. Maybe this is a lesson she learned from her mother?
June 24th, 2008