Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

It's been a bit since I last wrote here.  I've been busy with work, but also with my kids activities.  Things like my daughter playing in State Cup Soccer and my son competing regionally in Karate.  I have to say that my son's Karate SWAT team took first place in Regionals!  That is quite an accomplishment.  He also took first in weapons individually!

My daughter has a bunny, a rabbit by any other name.  We have had this bunny for over a year.  I protested mightily about getting this bunny since I am horribly allergic to dogs and cats.  But, since rabbits seem to clean themselves, I have been OK so far.

Recently we decided to get our carpet cleaned.  We went all out and brought in the big guns.  They did a most excellent job!  So how does this tie into the bunny tail, read on to see.  Now our bunny has three homes, a dog-sized one in the basement where it spends the night, a smaller cage in the kitchen where it typically spends the days, and a hutch out back where it spends the afternoons on warm, nice days.

In the basement and kitchen cages we place padding and wood chips to make it easy to cleanup after the bunny.  When we move the bunny from one home to another, some of these pieces fall off the bunny and get on the carpet.  Also, when we clean out the basement cage, fluff and other stuff gets all over the carpet, which in turn gets tracked all over the house!


I have asked my kids to clean this up after moving the bunny or cleaning the different cages out, but they always seem to forget.  So, after having all the carpet cleaned in our home, I placed a LAW into effect that if I saw any bunny fluff, padding, hay, wood chips, poop, etc. on the carpet, the bunny would go!

What do you think the results of this were?  My daughter crying that I was going to get rid of the bunny and my other kids accusing me of being some kind of extra-terrestrial war criminal!

I took some time to think about this.  Are the small things like a little bunny hair, fluff, etc. on the carpet worth an all out production and death warrant?  Absolutely not.  I have discovered if I gently remind my kids to clean up after the bunny, most of the time they will remember, but like kids, sometimes they forget.  Is it worth getting your kids all mad at you over these kinds of things?

My kids are growing up so fast, it seems like the years pass by like the spinning dials on a 'Vegas slot machine.  I need to treasure every moment with my kids.  As they get older, they tend to spend more time with friends, going to parties, etc.  If I waste time with them cursing the small "infractions" that they do, I waste this valuable time.

If you read my blog about the emotional bank account parable, you will realize that you may run out of withdrawals in these accounts for your kids if you continually nit pic them.  Kindness is the way and the route to happiness and solid families.

My youngest loves to sass myself and my wife on a regular basis.  If we were to blow up each time he does this, his emotional bank account would be overdrawn long ago.  We discipline him with love and remind him to talk to us with respect and dignity -- like he interacts with his Karate instructors.  One time, recently, when he was speaking rather harsh to me, I suggested that I hire one of his Karate teachers to come over to the house for a few evenings and even sleep on the floor in his room with him.  His first reaction was, "Dad, would you really do that?"  His second reaction was to ask me for an apology.

So, in conclusion, since this weekend is a big neighborhood camping trip, my youngest has looked forward to this for a long time.  He called and asked if we were going, and I told him we were not since I am sick.  When I get home from work today, I will have a chance to take my own advice!

Till Next Time,
Bill