Life Lessons

On of the most important jobs we have as parents is to teach our kids the little life lessons of the world. We do this yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and sometimes, in the case of "We do not lick the T.V.": hourly. In addition to not licking the T.V., I find myself teaching the lessons of going potty in the toilet instead of our underwear, not kicking our brother, sharing toys, and why the word "crap" in not a word I want to hear out of an eight-year-olds mouth.
At times, some of these little life lessons are ones in which I never ever, in my wildest dreams thought I would be teaching...take our Sunday cleaning session of R's room. She had been sent to her room an hour early with the directive to clean clean clean, and I would be up shortly to help put her new sheets on her bed. As I pull her bed away from the wall, I find, to my dismay junk smashed between the two. Among the candy wrappers, pencils and littlest pet shop toys...a pair of underwear. I'm not sure if they were dirty or clean, but never the less, not a place they belong. R, of course finds this hilarious! Me, not so much. So I proceed in making this a life lesson on how to properly clean your bedroom. This does not include pushing everything off to the sides of the room, under rugs or behind furniture.

Later that night, while enjoying a rare family dinner, J had opportunity to teach a life lesson of his own, in a way only a dad can. ****This, I will try to describe to the best of my ability through tears of laughter****
R: "EWWW, what's that smell?"
Dad: "Sorry, excuse me."
R: "Daddy, your supposed to say excuse me as soon as you toot."
Dad: Only if it's a loud one. Then you say excuse me. If it's a silent one, then just ignore it...if it's stinky, just point to the person next to you. No one will ever know.

So, this led me to realize just how different the roles are we have as Momma and Dad...and how the lessons of life falls to each of us.

What are the life lessons you have taught your kids this week? What are the lessons you never thought you would have to teach? Please tell me I'm not alone in this!