With three boys, two of which are involved in activities from church to sports, Sara and I stay on the run most of the time. Believe it or not, our three year old Jack can actually place our family order at most of the fast food establishments as he hears it all the time. His oldest brother likes his cheeseburgers with bacon and a side of barbeque sauce. So, now, Jack orders his chicken nuggets with bacon and a side of barbeque sauce.

Jack is so into chicken nuggets that he has recently started calling his family by that name. When I walk in from work, he is usually perched up playing on the computer at some Thomas the Tank Engine site and says, "Hey there chicken nugget!" At first, I wasn't sure if I should get onto him or not. Is that disrespectful? I guess it could be worse. He could say, "Hey there cinnamon roll!" At least a chicken nugget isn't fat and very round! Do you see where I'm going with this? Anyway, I decided not to address the chicken nugget thing.

Well, sure enough, Jack learned it was okay to call his family chicken nugget. Now, fast forward with me to Saturday night at a middle school football game. We were finally able to corral Jack toward the exit after the game, and we were headed out. As we passed every spectator, Jack, in a very loud voice, started saying bye to everyone. Yes, you guessed it! He would say, "Bye chicken nugget!" Sara and I could have crawled under the bleachers.

I would argue that children, from young ones like Jack to high school students, are very astute to what is occurring around them. We all get in such a hurry that we sometimes forget that our actions, as adults, are being taught to our children. Have you ever been in a restaurant or store with your family and something didn't go well with an employee of the business. How did you respond? What did your children observe?

Admittedly, I have been guilty of losing my cool in these situations and having to go back to my children or the employee and apologize for my actions. In schools, we often see students emulate things they see or hear outside of school. What are we allowing them to see and what are we teaching them about what is acceptable behavior? In an age where our children are bombarded with all type of electronic media, I think it is increasingly important that we take the time to sit down with them and talk about what is right and wrong. Additionally, I think it is important that our children hear us apologize to them or others if we were wrong in our actions, even when it is very hard to do so.

So, I leave you with this last piece of profound advice: "Hang in there chicken nugget!"

Tags & Keywords : Parenting