Help your kids become a noticer.
Do you often think to yourself, “I wish someone in my family would just notice?”
Why won’t the kids notice that the blanket has been folded at least seven times today. The pillows have been tossed back on the couch a dozen times. Dirty clothes didn’t make it to the hamper and the empty cereal box was left behind in the cupboard.
Have you found yourself frustrated with the kids for walking past something they could have helped out with? Your requests for help seem to have fallen on deaf ears. It feels like no one cares or hears a word you say? I’ve got you covered on how to change that while helping your kids become a noticer.
How Do We Help Them Make a Change?
What if we approached the situation differently? Instead of asking them to pick up, becoming the annoying nagging mom, we made it a conversation, a way of living.
As our children transition from toddlers to kids, it’s a great time to help them become a noticer.
A noticer is grounded in love. As a family, we are a team. Help them understand that being part of a team requires love. Because of that love, there is sacrifice. Sacrifice is putting another person’s needs ahead of our own.
As moms, the sacrifice piece is embedded in us. Sacrifice is done without even realizing it. We wake up in the middle of the night and run to our screaming child without even giving it a second thought. After doing chores all day, we sit down for the first time in what seems like hours. As soon as we sit, a little face is staring right at us looking for attention. We give them our time or our snack, even though we really don’t want to. It is done out of love. Sacrificially– because we love. We love because we notice. When a need is noticed, we freely and willingly give of ourselves so that they can have. I imagine as you’re reading this you can easily think of a time that you’ve sacrificed for your kids out of love.
For our kids, sacrifice needs to be taught.
Our kids are born knowing what love is, but there are parts of love that need to be taught. They are taught by conversations we have with them. They are taught by watching the world around them. We have to step in and teach them to become a noticer.
We Need to Be the Example
They can learn to be a noticer by watching us live it out in our own lives.
A simple way we can encourage them to notice is to be the example, as their parent. How can you or I notice others and serve them? We can hold open the door for a stranger. Donate items we no longer use. Help a neighbor with a chore.
Other ways to help them understand what being a noticer means is looking around together for ways to help. Make a meal with your kids and take it to a widowed neighbor or a mom who just had a baby.
These examples to help encourage our kids to become a noticer are not a one-and-done event. This is an ongoing conversation. The conversation can start as soon as they understand the action of doing.
Explain how helpful it would be if, when they saw the blanket wadded up in a corner at home, it was folded; or how rinsing off the dish before putting it in the sink saves you time. While at the grocery store, explain why we put the cart back in the coral. When out at a restaurant, explain why we try to help the waitstaff at the table by consolidating dirty dishes and paper napkins. Walking into school, help them understand why we hold the door open for others. On vacation at a hotel, collect the dirty towels and throw them in the tub, explaining how it makes the cleaning staff’s job easier when we leave. Urge them to look for ways to notice and help others around them.
Becoming a Noticer Has a Lasting Impact
When we give our kids opportunities to help them understand that, out of love, we notice others around us and we sacrifice our time, resources, and self…we’re setting them up for success as an adult. Encourage them to notice their surroundings by paying attention to the big and small ways they can help others. By doing this, we are not only giving them the tools they need to be helpful within the family unit but also for a future when they have a family of their own. This teaches our kids to be a good friend, a good partner, a good parent, and a noticer.
Want spaces for you kids to help with at home that will start them on the path to becoming a noticer? Check out Five Spaces to Declutter Right Now and get started with them!
