In a world that moves way too fast, I have intentionally tried to make our home a safe and nurturing space.
We have our fair share of chaos, don’t get me wrong. If you homeschool your kids and are a married couple working from home like my wife and I, you are bound to have a slew of meltdown moments. Each and every single day.
But despite that, we try to be purposeful about creating special interactions, because life is completely made up of building blocks called – inconspicuous, little moments. And they’re easy to miss if you are moving too fast.
Making these little memories throughout the day is especially fun to do with one of our favorite snacks, Entenmann’s® Little Bites®.
Take today, for instance.
Our math lesson was all about measurements! So we gathered up our tools and trotted through the house measuring everything we could find with tiny rulers. Doorknobs. Chairs. Pencils. Muffins?
Oh yeah. A regular math lesson got turned on its head the second I ripped open a bag of Entenmann’s Little Bites and challenged my ‘students’ to start stacking and record the results!
For extra credit, I considered measuring the widening of their eyes and incorporating that into the daily curriculum, but I thought we were already pushing our luck calculating the height of baked snacks.
And with the sight and smell of the whirling muffin aroma, came the subsequent cavalcade of questions…
”Can we eat it?”
“Okay, then when can we eat it?”
“Can I have the chocolate chip ones?”
“Why can’t I have the blueberry ones?”
I may or may not have bribed them to finish our math lesson with a promise of more muffins, but with most at 200 calories or less per pouch and no high fructose corn syrup, can you blame me?
In any case, math became a moment, full of excitement that helped my kids engage with an otherwise mundane subject. Watching their enthusiasm felt satisfying and changed the entire equation on how we learn.
It’s amazing how quickly they got motivated, right?
When ‘school let out’ a few hours later, we used the leftover Little Bites for an impromptu tea party. It was an especially gratitude-filled moment for me.
You see…
…I didn’t have to eat plastic, doll-sized treats while chewing air and making Cookie Monster grunts and groans, like I normally would.
Thankfully, I got to enjoy these real-deal, moist muffins filled with a wealth of mega-chocolaty goodness. And for once, all of those mmmmm’s and yummmm’s that came spilling out of my mouth weren’t an act, they were genuine. That’s a daddy-daughter win-win!
Life will always be found in the little moments of the day. Be on the lookout for them, and facilitate them when you can. It’s #TheLittleThings that make the lasting impressions and keep us smiling together.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For information on Entenmann’s Little Bites, check them out here, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or YouTube!