Don't think they aren't listening.

Sometimes, I really wish my kids WEREN'T listening. Like when I occasionally, rarely, almost never, except once or twice, say curse words. Nothing is more awful than hearing your five year old come in and say, "Mommy, I can't find my damn shoes."

I will never understand how kids can hear the right words, say, like please and thank you, 400 times and still not repeat them, but if they hear you say damn once, they've got it totally figured out. They don't just say it, they use it in context. Great.

That really isn't the point of this post though. Today, I'm actually proud of one of my children for listening. We had our family home evening* lesson on Monday night, and I taught the kids the story of baby Moses. When I held up a picture depicting Moses and the daughter of the pharaoh finding him, I asked if they knew who was in the picture. Sam proceeded to tell me who was in the picture without even thinking about it. Good job Sam! As the lesson continued, I was amazed at the things he knew about Moses. We talked about parting the red sea, and Sam followed up with, "And Moses put his staff to the rock, and water came out for all the people to drink."

When we asked Sam how he knew so much about Moses, he replied, "Hello!?! Sunbeams!*"

The most significant thing about this story is that Sam is the one that starts crying on Saturday afternoon as soon as he realizes that the following day is Sunday. He says that church is "sooo boring!!" Well apparently, boring is actually teaching him something. That's the funny thing with kids... we may think as they are climbing walls and turning flips out of their chair and picking their nose and asking totally random questions that they aren't getting anything out of our efforts as parents, and perhaps sunbeam teachers, but I think they listen more than we know. Their little brains ARE like sponges. Be it good or bad!


*Mormon definitions for my uncomprehending readers:

family home evening: Every Monday night we have a gospel lesson with the kids, followed by a treat and maybe a game. Sometimes, it goes really well, and sometimes all we can manage is to practice reciting scripture on our way to Dairy Queen. The point though, is to spend one night totally focused on the family.

Sunbeams: the name for the 3 year old Sunday school class.