Summer of Sucess week 5-How do you measure sucess?

Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim and a purpose. I have had several things I have been aiming for this summer. I have seen some success!

1. Stop the summer slide
2. Help kids make goals
3. Become more organized
4. Change negative behaviors
5. Stress less by doing things that make me happy
6. Get the baby out of our room and in his and keep his eczema out of control

My Summer plans have been altered because of kids unwillingness to participate and just plain exhaustion. The kids are reading and have read over 10 hours. That is great success. For writing prompts I am going to have them do it during quiet time and see if I have more success there. The older 2 kids have really been liking chess. My 10 year old is quite good.

Skill: picking up after yourself and controlling anger

I wrote down behaviors that have been bothering me and consequences that will follow. My doctor says I need to stress less so I am not going to stress if they don't do their room, but that means no friends or screen time will happen. This has definitely helped. On Monday was rough because one of my kids behavior was so disrespectful that they lost all privileges and had to go to bed early.

On the plus side, potty training for my Kindergartner is going great! That was a huge stress that is gone! He had accidents the first 3 days and I was about to give up! Now he has been accident free 3 days and has graduated to the big potty. At the end of today he will get his Chima lego set he has been waiting for!

I have also worried about my blog and keeping up but then I enjoy it less. Summer is busy anyway so I am here but if you don't hear from me, you will in a few days.

How do you measure success? Everyone has a different picture of what that entails. To me, it is not about the material aspect of it but the emotional rewards. That is, that we are all healthy and happy.Plans can go wrong but we can't give up. The kids goals and wants for the summer are different then mine. I guess I need to try a little harder to listen and align my goals with theirs! Success to me is that the kids and I are happy. Until that happens we are all trying to work together and redefine what we want. Some times we have too high of an expectation with an even bigger let down. I think that is what I did with my summer plans. So now I am building up slowly with smaller goals and steps. I can look at the small success I have and still look forward to the big picture.

I wanted to end with the scripture from Mosiah 4:27
 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.