56/365 Lent is for giving up

Sophia is big into telling Maeve what she should give up for Lent. This is right up Sophia's alley: religious, creative, and bossy. Maeve, however, is reacting just as she should. She ignores her. It's a good system they have.

Sophia has given up watching TV after school. She can watch if we're all watching, which is rare, actually, except that the Olympics have been on and she really wanted to see them. As vices go, this is small, and she decided being with her family was more important (and seeing ice skating was just an added bonus).

Maeve has decided, essentially, to ignore Lent. I don't push this sort of thing, frankly, because, (a) she is 5, and (b) punishing rules about religion without the capacity to understand them well leads to early burnout. I'd like my kids to stay religious and faithful throughout their lives, wherever they land, and so I'm not going to rap knuckles and Hail Mary them to death. Maeve is greatly interested in why we give up meat, however. Especially why shrimp is not meat but chicken is, even though they are both breaded and dipped in ketchup in her mind and therefore are essentially the same thing.

I have given up yelling at my kids for Lent. Not yelling, because I still do a lot of that: "SOPHIA! COME DOWNSTAIRS!" happens in a house with 3 floors. But I no longer get angry and yell. It's made me realize how much I yell at my kids, and this was not a pleasant realization. But it's been going ok. I do a lot of calm repetition of phrases, though, which will get just as old as time goes by: go back to your room now and find your tights before you come down and brush your teeth go get your tights go get your tights go--thank you. But we leave the house in the morning just a bit more calmly, I think.

I considered coffee but I didn't want to fail the first week. It's been a rocky start to my Lent--not Lent's fault, but just circumstances around me. Leo's been hard to handle (teeth? personality disorder?), Mike's been teaching (meaning late nights and doesn't feel like talking when he gets home), the house is a mess because of both of those, and dang it, it got cold again. Add that to the trivia night I'm running this weekend and girl scouts and I'm swamped.

But I'm working hard to not let it get away from me. I make myself listen to the silence when it's there. Like right now.