Today Kenzie woke up sick. She had a fever and then threw up. Trying to navigate that with two other small children in the mix can be challenging. However, try your best to prepare for those moments. For a while I’ve been trying to train the older ones to be servant leaders for the younger ones. We do have a sibling hierarchy, but in that they are learning that as the oldest with more privilege, they also have more responsibility. A big part of that is loving and caring for their younger siblings. I have also trained them on how to play with their younger siblings. All of this intentional training can supersede moments of necessity. Today I was glad I had been so intentional about training these things in my kids. With Kenzie sick, I had puke clean-up and lots of cuddling to attend to. She also fell asleep on my lap for a good amount of time. This was a great opportunity for Abby to practice all of her leadership skills. I created buy in with excitement. I said, “Abby, Kenzie is sick, and I’m going to need to care for her. You get to do such a fun thing today. I’m going to make you mom for the day with Corban. You get to care for him all day. It will be so much fun.” She fed him breakfast, played upstairs with him, read to him and was really helpful. I changed his diaper, and Kenzie crashed on her own for a bit so I was able to relieve Abby of her duties to do lunch and other activities with them. However, giving her this role was exciting and fun for her. She really stepped up to the plate. At that moment you can breath a sigh of relief in seeing that some of your training and hard work is actually paying off. It was a rewarding moment.
