Having a reason to be proud...

In my life, so far, I have always been made proud by my sisters & children in my life for one thing or another that they have done & achieved... The feeling of proudness & overwhelming love has always amazed me... Last week I felt an ever bigger amount of overwhelming proudness & love... My 12 year old was given a day & half notice to compete for Hurdles... Against other Schools & she jumped at the chance to "help out" even though she had not had any training...(She came 4th out of 10)& My Toddler woke up REALLY early excited at doing a sponsored Toddle to raise money for "Children that don't have toys & love" (Bless her innocence) Both of my girls did me so proud that I was like the Cheshire cat....

It makes me wonder, I know I did things when I was younger that could have possibly made my parents proud but they never told me... I tell my children Every day that I love them & when they do BIG things that make me proud, I tell them, but what about the little things??? The princess gave up her bottles not to long ago & now is saying Good Bye to nappies & Pull ups, Boo tries sooo hard with her homework, & My eldest went to Oz, that made me so proud that she did it on her own (however scared me everyday) My Moo has changed her college to Brighton because she WANTS to work with animals.. All these things are big, I praise them... Am I missing the bigger picture????

I will be completely honest with you... I work with children with ADD, ADHD, Autism & Aspergers & every day I work with one of those children, I praise them, no matter how small.... Should I show my children the same praise?? Why, because those children have been labeled different do we feel easier to do so?? I was brought up in a world where children weren't praised for doing what what expected of them but that also begs the question, Do we expect to much from our children?? Should a child make it's own bed? Should a child be expected to clear the table? Should a child help out around the house? Or should they just be children????

I am going to try, for a week, to praise my kids for EVERYTHING that they do, I don't mean, going to the toilet or eating their dinner but the other things... Remembering to brush their teeth, putting their crap away when they have finished with it, etc....

Wish me luck, I feel this is going to be harder than I think..........