Kids – Peter Gowesky

In Family & Parenting

4 Reasons To Make Your Kids Cry

June 6, 2012 No Comments

Owning up to the truth is always a good thing. So today in an effort to be totally transparent with you guys, I must admit something.

There are times when I make my kids cry….

It’s true. This is a picture of my daughter taken on Monday of this week. She looks really happy doesn’t she? I think that being a good dad, or parent means that you are going to make your kids cry from time to time!

Here are 4 reasons why it’s good to make your kids cry.

1. They are laughing so hard that they cry!

Parents-make your kids laugh, make them laugh hard! Your house should be one of the most fun places that your children are at during their whole week! Dad’s make sure that your stern disciplinarian side isn’t the only side of you that your kids see. Play with them. Get down on their level and just mess around. Be silly. Use your silly voices. Imagine with them.

2. You pushed them out of the way of danger!

There are times when your scary voice comes out. You know exactly which one I am talking about. It is the one that when it is used everyone around knows you mean business. There are times when it is appropriate to allow that voice to come out in order to protect your children from danger. When my daughter Grace was careening out of control towards the street on her bike, the scary voice came out and scared her. She cried. I was trying to protect her from danger. Parents protect your kids from danger, even if it means there will be tears because of it.

3. You showed them a better way!

Kids will be kids. They make mistakes. They fall down and scrape their knees. Sometimes their mistakes are willful. Sometimes they are pushing the boundaries and testing you to see if you will help show them a better way. In these moments lovingly guiding your child, teaching them that their is a better way can lead to tears. Discipline is never fun, even for adults. But it is so important to our children. Parents do not be afraid to cause tears over matters that are significant.

4. You are hugging them so tight that they can’t breath!

Okay Parents DON’T actually hug your kids so hard that they can’t breathe. Parents DO– LOVE YOU KIDS so well that it is unmistakable. Love them in a way that ensures that they know it. Speak the love language of your kid. (Gary Chapman wrote a great book on this topic: “The 5 Love Languages of Children“) Whatever you do make sure that they know you love them. This means more than just saying the words I LOVE YOU. It means showing them that you love them. Something my dad always said which has never left me was that you don’t spell love L-O-V-E. You spell it T-I-M-E. Love your kids well.

So, what things would you add to the list? How have you made your kids cry? Add to the list by leaving a comment or a thought below.

~Peter

In Family & Parenting

Spring Is Near

February 24, 2011 No Comments

Spring has to be near. Yesterday I came home and spring training was breaking out in my driveway. Grace and Noah were outside playing, taking advantage of the nice weather. We played soccer, football, baseball, catch, and rugby(sort of). You could tell that the winter blues had fully formed, and they were both tired of being house bound. I am totally with them on that one. Well they were working hard at breaking off the crust of winter. I enjoyed being outside with them and playing ball. It made me look around and see all of the spring projects that need to be done. Man this is going to be a fun spring. I can’t wait!

Are you looking forward to spring? If so, why?

~Peter

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In Uncategorized

Mid Day Distraction

January 28, 2009 4 Comments

SO, this is one of the reasons I love being a Dad. I get an email at 1:54 in the afternoon with these pictures. They were too cute not to share with you! I am so thankful for my family! I couldn’t help but share them with you!

In Faith in Real Life

Lets do this together

December 5, 2008 1 Comment

This morning I was driving in my car with Noah and Grace in tow behind me. We were driving from the house to the church. Today was going to be a special day! We were going to play at the church for the morning. We brought their bikes and we were going to play! It was going to be fun. We all willingly put our coats and shoes on, and we headed to the car with excitement on our faces. ALL OF US! So, we get in the car and something magical happened. We were descending the hill on West Street passing by Doyle Elementary school and I noticed what was happening in the back seat behind me. We were having a little school lesson.

This is the conversation I heard.

Noah- “Grace. Say tree.”

Grace- “Twee”

Noah- “Good job Grace. Say car.”

Grace- “Kar”

Noah- “Good job Grace. Say Baby Doughnut.” {In our family munchkins are known lovingly as Baby doughnuts…}

Grace- “Bebe Dowgnuts”

All of a sudden it hit me… Shouldn’t this be what the Christian life is all about? Shouldn’t we be helping each other grow in our faith? Shouldn’t we be there living life along side of each other helping our peers out when they are struggling? In this situation, there was no paid teacher, there was no professional. Believe me, Noah has lightyears to go in his sentence structure and word pronunciation. However, for whatever reason, he saw a need in his sisters life. He stepped up to the plate and was there to help Grace develop in her speech, and her abilities to communicate. I was one proud dad.

This is what we are trying to do at Youth Group. We are purposefully leaving 10 minutes at the end of every evening for students to spend that time with each other, praying, talking, counseling, laughing, and crying. This has everything to do with helping each other.

I’m a pastor. True statement. However, I don’t want to be the only one leading students. I want to see youth leaders leading students. I want to see students leading students. There will be much greater growth in church’s, youth groups, small groups, and sunday schools if we would work together and follow the example of a 3 year old. What if… What if we practiced this?

What do you think? Can you be apart of this type of a movement? Who do you think that you can be reaching out to? Or, have you had anyone do this in your life?

What do you think?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Life Lesson=$11.88

April 19, 2008 1 Comment

Today I went out and spent $11.88. I was truly a big spender this morning. I traveled to my local WalMart, and bought my two children their own full fledge pool. How fantastic is that? Seriously, they have their own pool, snack shop, and lifeguard service for a one time deal of $11.88. You too can have this deal if you run, don’t walk, to the closest WalMart. Anyhow, all exageration aside, Tiffany and I decided that it would be fun for our kids to have a little baby pool in the back on our deck. So we went out, and reluctantly I bought this thing. I’m gonna be honest, I wasn’t to thrilled at purchasing this oversized plastic dog dish. But you should have heard Noah when I Jammed it in the back of our cruiser. (aka, minivan) He goes like this,

“OH WOW. WOW. WOW.”

You would have thought that I bought him the moon or something really significant. “It Blue” he says. “It Blue mommy. WOW” So, that cheered me up a little bit. We are driving home, and my wife turns to the kids and in the traditional always excited mommy voice, she says, “Who wants to go swimming when we get home.” I looked over at her, and didn’t even say a thing. I looked back at the road, and knew full well what was ahead of me when I got home. In my mind, things were racing through my block head as to why we shouldn’t fill it up and use it today. It’ll be too cold, it’s to close to lunch/naptime… and all the other reasons I could fabricate. However, I didn’t say anything. First smart move all day.

Well, cut to the chase, we got home and I performed dutifully, I filled the pool, and even heated it for them. I put their slide into the pool and then we let them at it. Well, this was the greatest thing that we could have ever done for both of these kids. They loved it. They went down the slide, splashed water, they were giggling and laughing and having an amazing time.

Well, you know how you learn stuff from your kids. Yeah, well today was one of those moments for me. My kids were living in that moment. They were just laughing and they were focused on the here and the now. They didn’t allow the thought of the ever approaching nap time spoil their fun. They weren’t thinking about what they were going to have to eat for dinner. They weren’t worried about if their pool was as cool as the neighbors pool, or if their swim suit flattered their particular build. No. They lived in the moment. They splashed it up. They laughed and slid into the pool. They taught me a huge lesson.

How often do we sit around and look at other people’s stuff, and say to ourselves, man that would be great. I wish that I had that. My car isn’t as good as theirs. Or if only I looked more like Brad Pitt, or whatever holllywood A lister you long to be. When we do that kind of a thing, we are completely blowing off what God has given us right now, what we have been blessed with today.

For me, I will never forget this day, the day that $11.88 thrilled my kids beyond belief. God has given each of us so much, yet all to often we look at it and say, why isn’t it better? Or more like that persons.

Live in today. Live today to the max. Don’t let tomorrows worries encroach upon all of the fun and blessings that are in front of you right now. Hmm. Sounds almost Biblical huh? Something like, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:34)

So, anyhow, I can tell you where to get a sweet deal on a baby pool!