One of my favorite things about parenting young children is watching the simple ways they enjoy life. The ordinary can be amazing.
The most mundane of tasks are turned into an adventure. Life is waiting to be experienced and they refuse to miss any opportunity.
This holds especially true when it comes to household chores. It’s surprisingly easy for kids to keep a positive perspective on the most mind-numbing of tasks.
They beg to stand on a chair and wash dishes at the kitchen sink. They’re overjoyed to push a vacuum around the living room. Washing windows can be just as much fun as a trip to the park.
Being in the presence of a small child on a daily basis is a constant opportunity to experience a shift in perspective. Obviously, it would be ridiculous for an adult to treat every menial task like a vacation to the Bahamas.
Yet the reminder to see the glass half full is inspiration I often need.
A positive perspective in action…
My daughters are still young enough to love helping clean the house. I often put them to work dusting because it’s an easy job for me to teach and for them to do independently.
Last summer I showed my oldest daughter (who was then five) how to dust the lampshades in our family room.
They hadn’t been touched in quite a while, so a fair amount of dust had collected. I demonstrated how to gently wipe the shade with a damp rag and left her to it.
A short while later I went to check her progress.
She had been working hard, but the dust was stubborn. It had rolled up into tiny balls and was stuck all over the lampshade. It actually looked worse than before!
I expected my little perfectionist to be frustrated, but I was about to be surprised. She looked up at me and said,
Mommy some of this isn’t coming off. So, I’m going to leave it there as extra decoration.
She ran off happily to her next task and left me chuckling as I watched her leave. I thought to myself, “dust as decoration.” Now that’s a new one!
Want another story guaranteed to make you smile? Check out “Recapturing a Childlike Heart.”
The lampshades didn’t stay covered in little dust balls. I got out the vacuum and finished the job.
As sweet as it was, I didn’t think my husband’s allergie2
s would agree that dust ball decorations were a good addition to our family room.
But the idea behind her words stuck with me.
Read “Stop and Smell the Roses: The Beauty of a Slow-Paced Life“ for another inspiring story on the positive perspective of a child.
A reminder to see the glass half full…
The finished product of my daughter’s hard work didn’t turn out quite like she expected. However, that didn’t stop her from seeing beauty in what she had accomplished.
What could have been viewed as an irritating complication, she chose to see as an unexpected bonus.
As I finished cleaning the lampshades, I pondered the lesson behind her simple words.
How many times do I focus on the failure of a project that hasn’t turned out perfectly? How often do I completely overlook the parts that were actually successful?
And when given the opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons, do I jump at the chance or just complain about the hand I’ve been dealt?
Am I able to keep a positive perspective in the midst of a negative circumstance?
I realized I wasn’t proud of my answer to most of those questions. And I was thankful for the unintended reminder in my daughter’s words.
a choice to make…
Life is full of challenging moments. It’s not a question of “if” stress will interrupt my life. It’s always more along the lines of “when.”
However, the choice to respond with optimism to difficult situations is always mine to make.
And the outcome of those choices will ultimately determine the level of joy in my life.
Children have this amazing ability to see good in the worst of situations.
Perhaps it’s their innocence. Or maybe it’s a lack of real-world experience to convince them that life can be anything less than beautiful.
Whatever the reason, a child’s tendency to look at life through rose-colored glasses can be an example to us all.
Admittedly, seeing dust bunnies as decoration is much simpler than finding the good in challenging adult situations. Yet we all have the choice to view the glass as half empty or half full.
There’s nothing quite like the innocent perspective of a small child to remind us that life is simply too short to let any circumstance steal our joy.
Has one of your kids ever inspired you with a “glass half full” perspective? We’d love to hear the story! Please share in the comments below.
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