Your Child is Watching

As I've been watching my 18-month-old grandson Sebastian, I marvel at his
observation skills of the people around him. Here are a couple of examples.

Sebastian
is mastering the art of opening and closing doors, which he finds quite
fascinating. I noticed that when he closes the door behind him, he reaches his
hand back through the door to the door knob. When I mentioned this to Nichola,
my daughter-in-heart, she said that’s what she does to lock the door when she
pulls the door closed as she leaves the house.

Another
story. Blueberries are one of Sebastian’s favorite foods, and he can just about
clean you out of them. One evening my wonderful husband Doug was giving
Sebastian blueberries. He washed them and then shook his hand a couple of times
to shake off the water. So what did Sebastian do when Doug handed him the
blueberries? Shook them a time or two!

I
can’t resist telling you a third story to drive home the point. Doug and our
son Orion, Sebastian’s daddy, were lifting and planting two large trees in 24’
boxes in our yard. They were both wearing leather gloves to protect their
hands. Sebastian watched them very carefully, but didn’t show much interest in
the trees after that. About 10 minutes later, I happened to hand him the
gloves, which I had been holding. He confidently took the gloves, tried to put
them on his hands, and walked over to the nearest tree, ready to go to work.

Your
child watches everything about you, even the most seemingly unimportant
details. She watches not only your actions. She also watches your facial and
hand expressions, your tone of voice, your feelings, your way of interacting
with people, the choices you make, the lies or truth you tell. You got it—EVERYTHING!!

So,
as one of the people he spends the most time with, especially when he’s young,
you are hugely influential and have a big impact on his life, who he is and who
he becomes.

Are
you being the person you want your child to watch?