It's All About the Win

So, I spent almost the entire day helping the kids with their Science Fair projects. There's a certain amount of pressure, because I am in charge of our school's Science Fair. So yeah, we can't have sucky projects.

So that being said, it's even more important that the kids do their own projects. I have to resist the urge to "help" them too much. (Why? Because I wrote the judging form. And a big part of the judging is that the kids did their own projects. It's painfully obvious when the moms and dads did the project but slapped the kid's name on it and called it good.)

Ok, so yesterday morning I told all three kids that they needed to come up with a Bible verse corresponding to their project. (Did I mention this was a Christian School? Yeah, so each project must have a Biblical application relating to it.) So later that morning, to my amazement, the kids had not only followed directions, BUT they had each found a pretty good Biblical application to their projects! My oldest did a project on bees and how they protect their queen and how during the wintertime their job is to keep her warm and fed. So his verse was about honoring your father and mother, just like the bees honor their queen (Exodus 20:12.) Wow! Good one. My daughter's project is on hair color and how that relates to it's strength. So she had a whole thing written out about Samson and his hair, but how really our strength comes from God. (We're on a roll now! My heart was swelling!!) Ok, so my youngest, my 7-year old, is doing a project on bird nests. So he came up with those verses in Matthew 7 about building your house on a solid foundation, and how just like the bird builds a strong house, we should build our lives on rock (Jesus) not sand.

OH yeah. I was patting myself on the back. Slappin' myself high fives...I mean seriously! I was tearing up listening to my children. I thought, Wow. I'm sure we've done many things wrong with these kids, but we must have done SOMETHING right! What awesome kids these are!! I don't want to brag or anything, but woo hoo! My kids are awesome! (Ok, I did call a friend or two AND my sister to brag.) But I had to! I was in parenthood nirvana.

Briefly.

Cole (my 7-year-old): Mom, isn't my project cool?
Me: Yes, VERY cool. You did a fantastic job!
Cole: Yeah, I think I'm gonna win the Science Fair.
Me: Well, remember, Cole, it's not about winning. It's
about doing your best and learning something about science!
Cole: No, I think it's about winning.
Me: But didn't you have fun? Wasn't it great this weekend working on these projects together? We learned so much about bird nests and God's wonderful creation. That's what it's all about.
Cole: (looking truly shocked) No, for me it's all about the win.
Me: You may not realize it now Cole, but some day you'll look back on this and remember how fun this weekend was and how much you
learned.
Cole: (staring at me like I'm an alien) I guess so. Whenever I'm polishing my gold medal, I guess I'll remember this weekend.

Yeah. My work is not done here.