I Dated the Devil

Many times when we look back at our past, all we can do is grow from our experiences. In my early 20's, I was finishing my grad school, had the world in my hands and was indestructible.  And I began dating the devil.


Growing up, I went to church every Sunday at our local church, I began working at the age of 12 and always held at least one job until I left for college.  I had a lot of friends, laughed often, smiled at anyone that crossed my path, helped anyone in need, made plans on the weekend with friends, and enjoyed making new friends. 

After I left small town living for college, I entered a large city.  I even had a job lined up in Lincoln before I graduated high school. Now that sounds impressive!  I attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln received my undergrad in Animal Science and began working on my graduate degree. I consistently held a job and discovered the "college life" with parties, late nights, and more.  I also began dating the Devil. 

He was sweet, charming, always there for me, and would give his opinion whether I wanted it or not.  I thought it was the perfect relationship, and the relationship continued for many years - too many years.

Throughout the relationship, I became overly confident, arrogant, unappreciative, bitter - I think you get the picture.  I also quit attending church during this time and I began losing some friends, friends I really enjoyed speaking with and going out with. 

I lost one friend that I was becoming close to and that loss was the wake up call for me.  Why did I lose my friend?  I looked at myself in the mirror and saw who I had become.  It was not the person I thought I was; I was really the person the Devil wanted me to be. 

How could I let the Devil take over my life and hide my true character?  I wasn't smiling, had to force myself to laugh, lost my friends and lost one very important relationship - my relationship with God. 

That day, I looked in the mirror, took a good, long look and knew immediately why I had become this person.  I was dating the Devil.  I quit going to church, praying, having faith and listening to God.  I let the Devil take over not only my faith, but also my character.

I dumped the Devil that night and brought God back into my life.  Changes to my character and the loss of my dear friends didn't happen overnight and lost relationships wouldn't be fixed overnight either. The first step was I had to do was embrace everything God offered me, listen to Him, and find my character that was lost.

I began smiling again, laughing, holding my friends and family closer, embracing all that I have been offered, counting my blessings, and looking at the bright side of life. 

As I'm writing this blog, I have tears running down my cheeks knowing I have my faith, began to find my character again and dumped the Devil. Those tears are also tears of sadness - sadness knowing I have hurt many, have lost some meaningful relationships, have some relationships to repair, and have many apologizes to give.

But as I wipe away these tears, I know I have my relationship with God, found my character, and have began repairing and building my relationships and I have my husband and kids to support me through all of this.  Dumping the Devil was the best day of my life, and I won't be turning back.

It's Your Responsibility!

As a parent, we all have a responsibility to teach our kids and provide them with the best.  We teach them how to sit-up, crawl, walk, eat, talk, potty, get dressed and much, much more.  When I talk to parents and I hear them say their child isn't ready to potty train or they won't eat anything or they aren't talking, I wonder when they are planning to teach them.

Stop reading now if you don't want to hear that we are failing as a parent if our children are behind or not potty trained or will only eat a few foods or not getting dressed on their own.

Yes, it is our fault as a parent to an extent.  As parents, we succeed in many areas, and we fail in many areas, too.  One area we struggle with is potty training.  As a parent of two children (4 and 2 1/2), I don't want to hear your child isn't ready to potty train.  Of course your child isn't ready to potty train.  A child is never "ready" to potty train.  When your child is first born you begin teaching them.  They learn everything by watching you and your behavior, and you teach them also. They are taught to roll-over, sit-up, crawl, eat solid foods, get dressed and more.  Are they ready to sit-up or crawl?  Or do you work with them and devote time to your child to teach them? How do they learn these things?  Do they just know how to do all these milestones?  Of course not!  You work with your children and TEACH them.  Potty training is NO different.

It's not that your child isn't ready to potty train, it's that you aren't devoting the time to to potty train your child. You can't devote one weekend to your child to potty train them?  Yes, it takes devoted time, patience, and did I mention a weekend devoted to potty training.  It's not rocket science, but until you as a parent take the time to teach your child to use the potty, they will never learn! For those that have taken the time and are still struggling to get your child potty trained, kudos to you.  You have and are taking them time.  Each child catches on at their own pace.

I didn't think my 2 1/2 year old was "ready" to potty train either, but my husband and I decided on one weekend we were going to stay home and potty train our son.

I'm not going to lie. I had help potty training, which made potty training sooooo much easier.  Yes, I said potty training was easier!  No, it wasn't my husband; it was the book, Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki that gave me the inspiration and tools to begin the potty training process.  Her website is very helpful, too.  This book gave me the easy, necessary steps to potty train my son.  And no, I'm not a super mom.  I just devoted them time to potty train him.  I highly recommend this book for potty training.

 Ok, I will step off that soap box onto my other soap box.  Who's fault is it your child or children will only eat macaroni and cheese or hot dogs or chicken nuggets?  It YOUR fault.  Yes, there are some very picky eaters and there are many children with allergies and aversions.  Your children learned how to eat like this.  From the time they begin to eat solid foods, they are learning to eat by the food choices you offer them.  After they start eating solid foods and you only offer them a select foods, of course that is all they are going to eat.  Don't try and introduce them to apples, blueberries, grapes, green beans, peas and other fruits and vegetables when you don't eat these foods as part of your diet.  It won't work.  They have begun developing their palate, and it doesn't include the healthy options if you don't eat them yourself feeding picky eaters. And there are guidelines for children's health and nutrition.
.  If you dine out or get fast food frequently, forget the fruits and vegetables they should have.  They are learning from you!! You should have changed your eating habits to include fruits and vegetables and other food choices if you wanted your children to have more food options.  The good news is there are options for picky eaters and nutritional guidelines for younger children. 


I could continue on with this soap box rant and others, but my point for this post is that our children are continuously learning from us.  We can't tell them one thing and do another.  They don't learn that way.  Children learn from example and what we as parents teach them.  Take the time to teach your children these small milestones in life.  It will benefit them in the long run.