Family time

I don’t ever recall being excited about homework when I was a kid.

Somehow, though, our four-year-old daughter thinks it is the greatest thing in the world.

Perhaps she’s heard kids talk about it on TV or maybe she’s heard older kids talking about it and maybe to her it sounds glamorous and exciting like some really great treat you get to enjoy when you get big.

She is excited about school in general.

Since she was two-years-old she’s been asking us when she will get to go to school.

This year, she got her wish – in a way.

She began going to nursery school for three days a week this year and I have to say she is really thriving in that environment. At the end of the day, she shows us her art work and other projects and she tells us about all the things she did.

She is very proud of her work, and so are we.

There’s a fourth day of school for her each week as well.

A few weeks ago she began attending Sunday School at our church.

She absolutely loves this.

When she joins us for services in the sanctuary after Sunday school she shows us her projects and sometimes will share a song she learned.

She brought me a four-page printed leaflet called, "Family time."

"What are we supposed to do with this, Dad?" she asked.

I looked at it carefully for a few minutes and I said that since she is in Sunday School, this must be her Sunday School homework.

Her eyes lighted up and she began to get very excited.

"Homework?" she asked. "Can we do it as soon as we get home?

And so, just like that, our Sunday routine was altered – for the better.

I have to admit that I’m having as much fun as she is doing our "Sunday School Homework" together.

Before she started going to Sunday school, we would usually spend our Sunday evenings watching TV. Some of the shows were funny, but… it was kind of a "guilty pleasure" – kind of like junk food for the mind.

Last Sunday, we turned the TV off and sat down to do her "homework."

It was so much more fun than watching TV.

The homework lessons encouraged us to say things together, make hand motions together to go along with the words we are reading, pray together, and do things together, such as asking us to collect some small plastic animals.

So we went on a small plastic animal hunt. To Molly, it was like an Easter Egg hunt. She searched in her room while I searched a cabinet in the living room where there are abundant supplies of small toys. We met in the middle and looked at our collection of toys and we went through the lesson which asked us to name the animals, identify which was biggest and smallest and also asked us to talk about what else God made to live in the world.

The "tip of the week" on the back page of the homework leaflet encouraged us to get children involved in the care of the family pets, so we decided that would be a good job for Molly. When we got to this part, Molly ran to check on the dogs’ water and food bowls. She ran back and with excitement in her voice said, "They need food, Dad, and the water in their bowls is dirty!"

And so I watched as she scooped food out of the dog food bag and put it in their bowl and then we went to the kitchen where I helped her clean out the dog’s bowls while she stood on a chair.

Never, in a million years, could I have imagined someone could get so excited about cleaning out dog bowls.

Each night, I read Molly stories from a children’s bible to her. We started a few months ago and we are almost to the end. She loves listening to these stories. It’s the last thing she does before she says her prayers and goes to sleep.

On Sunday night, she hugged me and asked me when we could do some more "homework" together.

"We can do it anytime," I told her, "but we’ll have to wait till Sunday for a new lesson."

She smiled and laid her head on the pillow as I turned out the light.