There aren’t a lot of rules in our house, being passive style parents, but there are one or two.  And rules is such a harsh word, I more like to think of them as suggestions, routine, expectations.

Or things that will really tick mom off if you don’t do them.

Weekends are our cherished time.  Saturdays we spend running everyone to soccer and balancing all the things.  Sundays are home.

But home and ALIVE.

Want to get under my skin?  Sit around, inside on a clear day. Or even a cloudy day.  If it is light out, you better be outside soaking it up and finding something to do.

Every Sunday it is lighting a fire under the kids butts to get them OUTSIDE. Darkness is for watching television, reading books and playing games.

Sundays with daylight are for enjoying the acreage we worked so hard to get.

Most of the time my pressure works.

Especially for the middle kid who would stand outside in the rain if the skies would only provide it.

But the older one, she is a challenge.  Pouting and moaning and “cold” because she is outside. Begging to spend her sundays curled up with a book on the couch. Grating against my built in values and expectations at every chance.

And I give it right back at her. Creating huge bonfires so we can roast marshmallows, working alongside her, or exploring our land with little jaunts and hikes. Trying to demonstrate the reward (both to your soul and your pocketbook) of working hard, no matter where you are standing.

And as we battle our sundays away I just hope that all of this back and forth is creating the same foundation for her that my parents created for me.  Warm up by going outside and being active.  Work hard, play hard, find something to DO when you are bored. Don’t fall back into the rhythm of laziness.

Greet each day with the attitude that you will make it deliver. Take each opportunity as a chance to take a step forward on your path.

Use the light you are given to see what is in front of you.

And then, when the darkness comes, curl up by the fire and escape as needed.

My greatest fear is that she won’t collect these values, and that she will lose our family heritage of “Getting Stuff Done” and “being competent”

What a silly fear.

So balance me out dear readers.  Appease my worries, and help me understand that even though she isn’t OUTSIDE with us, tossing logs on the fire or enjoying the sunshine and instead chooses to be inside, baking cookings and cleaning her room, that that doesn’t mean that all is lost.

It might just mean that my “way” is being done differently, but still as effectively.