2 Questions…

This is how my mind works: I see/hear/smell one thing that inevitably leads me into thinking about something related, and before you know it, if I am lucky, I am having one of those A-Ha! moments. It happened today…

My train of thought went something like this…

I bought this book years ago, titled A Family of Poems. It is a collection of Caroline Kennedy's favorite children's poetry. In the introduction, she shares how she and her brother were encouraged to write or choose a favorite poem for holidays and birthdays to give as gifts. With Mother's Day approaching, I considered asking my girls to do the same for me…

…which led me into thinking about the Kennedy family, and how I have heard so many of them discuss how significant community service was growing up. Every person around the dinner table was required to participate in a ritual night after night after night. They had to answer these 2 questions:

What is 1 thing you learned today?

What did you contribute today?

In reflecting upon dinnertime at the Kennedy compound, many of them admit never sitting down unprepared. However, and this is what I am getting to, I thought about what an amazing opportunity these questions create for me, for all parents to connect with their children. Imagine the endless ways you build the self-esteem and worth of a child. If every night of every day for the next 10 years you asked your child these 2 questions, well, the math is simple. This little person will have made over 3, 600 positive, defining, powerful statements about herself or himself.

And that just simply blew me away…