Monday, February 22, 2010

What Do They See?

During our first service on Sunday mornings, we have a "children's message" where someone does a mini sermon for the children.  This week's was about running, specifically focusing on the story of Derek Redmond, and in the midst of the message, Andrew, my 3 year old, piped up: My Daddy runs 5K!

There are a lot of things that we as parents do that our children just naturally pick up on, and for me, running is one of those things.  Andrew especially likes running and can't wait until his next "race."  He wants to "run 5K" and, much to his brother's chagrin, claims to have run a 5K already (he has done a 5K, but it was in a stroller, while Jonathan completed one on his own). Actually Andrew's run was a kids' run in collaboration with the Thanksgiving 5 miler I ran - it was more like 100m than 5K.  But who's counting?

Andrew has a little toy "listening device" with an earphone, and often when I am getting ready to go out and run, Andrew will get that toy and put the earpiece in and announce, "I'm going running."  He associates my iPod with running - not a bad association, as that's almost the only time I wear my headphones.

This should stand as a reminder to all of us: our children are watching us.  What do they learn - not just from what we're trying to teach them, but from what they see us doing?

1 comment:

Big Mama said...

Believe me, they are learning far more from what you are doing than from what you are "teaching them." Fortunately, they are learning the same things from you and Tara--you practice what you preach, er, i mean teach.