Saturday, December 4, 2010

dinner and a movie

okay, so it ended up being lunch and a movie.  i borrowed (thanks chrissy!) an idea from one of my HS buddies and created a points system for our school year.  we are trying to motivate the children concerning their school work, hoping they will learn how to self motivate or discipline themselves to self motivate with positive goals and positive reinforcement.  we also wish to teach our kids that hard work pays off and all choices have consequence... even bad choices.

so with the point system in place, we set up the rewards.  after a certain amount of points earned, the child gets a food and movie date with just mom.  it seems with this large family that EVERYONE in it desires to have mommy all to themselves.  i do mean every single member!!!!  my focused and highly motivated daughter was the first to reach the dinner/movie amount.  she chose to go see tangled.  i have not stepped foot in a movie theatre in years, but more on that later.

what caught my attention this time was an advertisement before the show started.  it was actually a barbie commercial, but you wouldn't have known that.  it was basically little girls who 'dreamed big' and adult women explaining how they were achieving their goals and dream from their childhood.  one was a pilot, one was a coach, one a teacher... and on they went.  i did notice that one profession was not mentioned.  being a mother.  i don't believe that motherhood should get the shaft.  i also don't believe that stay-at-home-mothers should be considered the losers of society, those women who just couldn't make it in the 'real world' or assist with gross national product are to be case aside or looked down on.  it is just as honorable as working in a professional environment, isn't it??

not every coach, or pilot, or teacher will be remembered by name or by accomplishment.... but a mother is embedded in the hearts of her children FOREVER!!!  even my deceased MIL, who had plenty of struggles and misses while raising my husband and his 2 brothers is loved and missed by her children.  there is no fingerprint in the life of a child like that of the mother.  i have played both sides of that fence, corporate america in chicago handling millions of dollars in checks every day, i have served my country in uniform and been called away from my family to do what needed to be done.... but motherhood (i have finally come to appreciate and realize) is something very special and should be honored right along side the pilots, teachers, and coaches.

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