Perseverance

I really don't want to take the kids to swimming lessons today. It has been a long three weeks. We are done on Friday but it couldn't come soon enough. I can tell the kids are "done" too. They don't want to do anything the teacher tells them to do, not even things they have already done. They just cling to us (Chris and I have to be in the water with them) and Zach even cries and has fits if we try to make him do something. Even bribing isn't working. It is embarrassing and frustrating to take the time and money to do this and have it be such an ordeal. They were doing great at the beginning, with both of them swimming on their own with noodles, but it has turned into an emotional ordeal that I just don't want to deal with anymore. But we will finish the class. It probably won't be fun or easy but we will finish.

I am chalking this one up to a lesson in perseverance. We made the decision to do this and it is a good lesson for us as well as the kids to finish it. It hasn't been easy (although I do think the kids enjoyed parts of it) but I know they will be proud of themselves when it is completed. It is like anything else in life, you can't always quit when it gets too hard. Sure, we could say forget it, we're done, but everything we have done so far would be wasted. Besides, we've been down this road with the kids before, whether its with sleeping issues, picky eating, or behavior issues. I've learned that its always worth the reward of completion at the end. We can look back and say "I did it!" (although sometimes it is more like "I survived it!"). Either way, I want to teach my children diligence and perseverance and the best way to do that is to be a good example for them.

Verse of the Day: Galatians 6:9- "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."