Beauty or Duty, you decide.......

I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty;

I woke and found that life was Duty!

Author unknown~

DUTY! At times I wonder about  the duties of being a mother of many. It seems if Mom's not here to keep things running smoothly, then it's not running correctly! You know that nagging feeling of being a mom of many... did you brush your teeth, did you make your bed, take the trash out, clean your room, finish your schoolwork?? and on and on and on it goes! Beautiful would be children who just did it, life is children who need assistance. Duty is working together to accomplish the tasks. Reality is life and dreaming is nice, but it's not life! 

In our home we work hard at having our children work hard, to learn the duty of hard work. We do not believe in rewarding our children for their chores. We want them to learn that hard work is duty, and life. It is part of being in a large family, and if they get rewarded it is a reward for our family. We can have a fun outing, a fun family night, a new movie to enjoy, or maybe even just some time off. 

Even the smallest of children can help with age appropriate chores, or simply asking them to help. It amazes me  how much my little ones want to help and find ways to help, because of the influence of their older siblings. They want to help because that's what everyone else is doing. They want to do their school during school time, because everyone else is.

It seems to be natural, this last week we have been potty training our little 2 year old "Curious". As part of our beginning training, we simply asked him if he wanted to go pee-pee in the potty like  Noble, Valiant, Brave and yes Even Papa Bear! This excited him, because he wants to be just like all the big boys in our house. And no potty training is never beautiful, but what would happen if we never took the time to do the duty!

I think that a complaining, covetous spirit, typically comes from those trying to live a dream, and then having reality, duty hit them right smack in the face. Then they can not be content, because their blessings feel like cursing, and their blessings never seems to be beautiful. I heard once and love this thought, we are not thankful for our blessings, we always want more. That seems too true, and seems to be more and more the sign of the times.

Now I would never  say to not make life beautiful, to never dream. Just remember that reality is life and life is duty and duty is not always beautiful.