Kids mimic what they see more than what they are told....

 We all want our children to be thankful, gracious, kind, well mannered, humble...the list continues on...little creatures. We often speak of these lessons over and over to our kids. But how many times ourselves do we practice what we preach?
  I was humbled this afternoon when we took Kaya down to my Dad's. Dad lives on the small family farm where I grew up as well. Kaya absolutely loves it down there. Running with her Pappaw's dog, hunting frogs, checking the garden and playing with her chickens. We raise chickens at my Dad's and it's her fave thing to gather eggs and feed them. She especially likes that she now has a baby chick she has named Luna :)
  Anyways...we pulled up in the drive and the house was locked tight, no note nothing. So we decided to wait around and see if Dad showed up. He often helps neighbors out so we usually give him a bit if we arrive and he's not home. We busied ourselves feeding the chickens, checking the garden. I noticed his water jugs for the chickens and garden were empty. Dad puts buckets out to gather rain water from his gutters for the chickens and garden. We had some massive rainstorms that morning and his buckets were to the brim. The sky was dark and another round of rain was predicted. So Kaya and I grabbed up the empty jugs and proceeded to fill them from the buckets. My logic was if we filled them up and another rain storm came before Dad got home...he'd not lose water to an overflow and be ahead of the game. Kaya sat on the porch step watching me. Then she said something that not only humbled me but also made me think.
   "Mamma you do nice stuff for Pappaw without ever being asked. You knew he'd want that water for the chickens and the garden and you just did it. That is just really nice and kind". She grabbed a filled jug and sat it on the porch.
   After we got home I got to thinking about what she said. Here we all as parents worry so much how your children will turn out when in reality WE mold them and how WE do things is what they will learn. I've never told Kaya to gather the water or that we should just do it when we see it needs done. I just do it and she helps. My 6 yr old reminded me how important empathy for others is and how far kindness goes. She not only heard us say at some point "Be kind and treat others how you want to be treated" and "Sometimes we just do for those that need it" ...she has also seen us put that in action. That made me feel like a proud parent.
   I'm not bragging on us, I'm not patting myself on the back. Just glad that our kiddo saw our words in action, We cannot teach our kids to be kind, thankful and grateful for what they have if we constantly want more, never turn our hand for others or show thanks.