The successful fairy tale

I received in my inbox yesterday, an email asking me if success was raising a child who was smart, happy, and well mannered.  That gave me pause.  At first I was sad, it seemed so empty, is that it?  That's all I'm striving for?  Is that how I measure success?  If you saw my parenting some days, you might think so.  I know I personally put a lot of emphasis on manners and not always for the right reasons.  Yes, I want my children to be a blessing to others, (but I also don't want them to make me look bad.)  Do I want them to be happy?  Of course, but not necessarily as the world defines happy.  I want them to be joyful and I want them to know that true joy comes from the Lord, not things, and not other people, and not circumstances.  Those are all wonderful fun things, but they are fleeting.  Do I want smart children, again, of course, but wisdom can't be learned from a book.  That's God taught.  Even manners go back to the Golden Rule, Do to others what you would have them do to you.  So to get back to my original question.  Do I define success by raising children who are smart, happy, and well mannered?  In a manner of speaking, I guess I do.

I am Plan A

Remember that book I mentioned, "Lies Homeschooling Mom's Believe"?  I'm still reading it.  (I'm one of those people that usually has several different books going)  I enjoy this one in little bites because it takes me awhile to wrap my brain around the truths that are in there.  The author points out that if we don't consider ourselves too lazy, too easy going, and too unorganized then we most likely consider ourselves too demanding, too much of a perfectionist or we think we take all the fun out of life.  It resonated with me.  Why is that?  Why can't we find the happy medium?  Why do we always have to go to the negative extreme?  He really blew my mind with his next statement.  Not only does God already know those things about me, but He gave me most of those traits, and He gave me those traits to be best for MY children.  So while I am always out searching for a better system, a better plan, a better something that's going to improve me and my family and my parenting, I need to remember that I am God's Plan A for them.  After all, as the daughter of the King, that does make me a Princess.