What Can I Give My Children

I've been thinking of what I can teach my children in our day to day life. I've decided at this point that the most valuable is teaching my children values. What's the saying..."Give a man a fish; you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; you have fed him for a lifetime." I think that applies to teaching a child values, readying them for decisions that will cross their paths; even Gidget makes decisions now at the age of 3. Ever heard of "Power Tales," a series of stories about famous people related to a certain value? We had those growing up and they stuck with me. Out of print, but I found them on ebay and anxiously awaiting their arrival-- WORTH the cost. Then I started to read "The Book of Virtues"-- bought a used copy for $3.99 off of thriftbooks.com; it's a THICK book, so I loved getting that price. It's full of stories, poems, tales, etc... related to different virtues (or values). I've started reading them to the girls during lunch and last night I read a few to the girls while they were falling asleep. I can tell it's a good thing to do. We did a FHE on courage (I'm using "Teaching Children Values"-- has FHE-ish outlines for each value as a starter and outline for the months) and then I read a story, tale, and then poem of courage. Gidget sat up after one and said, "I really like that." Precious. Then we've randomly been playing/singing/dancing to the "Power Tales" (songs) from Deseret Book. One being song about courage and lions. Last week during FHE we played freeze dance to the courage song. That was a hit! Repetition and variety are a focus of mine with my girls at this stage. Already MD LOVES to dance and participate. She puts LOTS of tape on the poster while "helping" post pictures of courage. =)
So that's where I'm at. I'm loving having energy!! LOVING it. Now I can't nap though, but still needing sleep I'm having to be in bed by 9:00 or 9:30. (I remember when my mom did that and I thought it was crazy to be in bed so early! ha.) Being in the business of motherhood is good. I've also been recognizing more and more how much specific prayer is an aid daily. PHEW!