Parenting and Self-Worth

This morning while getting ready I was watching BYU TV on my computer and I really loved this talk by James D. MacArthur "Parenting and Self-Worth: Helping Children Grow and Develop".  I would highly recommend listening to it when you have a spare hour.  I couldn't figure out how to link directly to it, but if you go to www.byu.tv and go to Sunday September 13th at 5:00 am you can listen to him.  He gave the talk at Education Week, August 15th, 2005.

Bro. MacArthur talks about intentional parenting and how we need to intentionally build confidence in our children.  He describes how he builds self-worth in his children by complementing them or building up their confidence in either a "BE" way or a "DO" way.   He tells of how we need to have confidence in who we are inherently; that existing is worth.  We also need to have confidence in what we do.  He says it MUCH better though.

As I was listening to it, I couldn't help but think of my parents and grandparents and how they were amazing at this!  

What I Do:

My Grandma and Grandpa Naylor are GREAT at this!  Everything that I do, my grandparents make me think that I am the best in the world at doing that task.  Take computers for example... I was out in Utah in July and my Grandma called because they could not get their Word Document to print.  I tried to fix it over the phone, but we could not figure it out.  I hopped in my car and went over to their house and figured out that it was their printer that needed to be re-installed.  Well you would have thought that I had just created a cure for cancer.  I always feel so great after helping them with something, but they don't only do this for me.  All of their Grandchildren really claim that they are THE favorite grandchild (Sorry, but it really is me)!

Who I Am:

I was a Senior in high school and I would say that I had done a lot to in the Do box - I was on student council, volley ball team, etc.  Well, it came time for prom and I did not get asked.  I was pretty much okay with it since I didn't have a boyfriend or anything, but the week of prom it really got to me.  I think that I was at work or something the day or prom and I came home to my bedroom to find a bouquet of flowers in my bedroom with a note from my dad saying that I was amazing and that he loved me and I didn't need to be asked out to prom to know that.  Still to this day this makes me cry and I will remember that far longer than if I would have gone to prom with some guy.  Thanks dad for letting me know that I am of worth even when others don't think so.

The Alligator Farm & the Beach

On Thursday we took a trip to St. Augustine to go to the Alligator Farm and to the beach.  We  tried to plan the driving so Allie would be asleep, but she decided naps were for wimps and only slept like 1 hour the whole day.  With that said, she was really happy all day long and loved being outside for the majority of the day.  

Our Alligator watching the other baby Alligators

They had little pellets to feed the baby gators and they would follow you around to get the food.

Our tired Alligator

They fed them little rodents and got rather close, but these seemed like lazy gators

We got to the beach and it was a red-flag day because of the major rip-currents, so we could not go far into the water.  Allie loved it, though, and would have been happy to stay there all day long.  It was nice and clouded over so it was not too hot to just play on the beach.

I think her hair looks extra red in these pictures.  During the day at home it looks more brown, but at the beach it was red.

She loved the feeling on the sand on her feet and kept using her toes to feel the sand

We loved having Dad home to play with us this week!  Yea!

Playing in the Park

Mike has this week off, so we have been playing all week.  Wednesday we took Allie to the park and I think she had mixed feelings.  She loved swinging by herself, but was not a huge fan of the slide, but I am sure she will come around.  

Sporting Some Flops

Swimming is a common activity in the Meldrum home as it is free and Florida is hot!  Recently, there has been condensation on the outside of the sliding glass doors after the daily afternoon showers, which I have never seen before.  That is just too much humidity!   

Laughing at Dad making silly faces

Lots of chewing fingers right now, she has 1 tooth in and another on the way

Chewing the floatie also works

She loves swimming, but not on her back.  Whenever she is afraid, she blinks rapidly, which is really funny.

Mike wore these flip-flops as a baby, they are just too cute!  I put them on Allie while she was on our bed and she would bring her feet up to play with, notice the shoes and start playing with them.  Then, she would forget about it and then bring her feet back up and be surprised again by the shoes, it was quite funny.

Micanopy

Allie and I decided to have a photo shoot today down in Micanopy which is a little town just south of Gainesville.  It is where they filmed Doc Hollywood with Michael J. Fox.  We were taking pictures and a lady came up to us, and she was taking pictures for a Florida travel magazine and wanted Allie to be in it.  I don't blame them!  There are a ton of pictures, but I couldn't decide on just a few.