A mother is always teaching

One of the things I have often told those who criticize homeschooling is that every mother is a teacher. Of course, the same is true of fathers. While not all parents will teach their children how to diagram a sentence or find the derivative, parents will teach.

I was reminded of this the other day when I heard my son making a telephone call to the church office, so that he could speak with the summer intern. He was very polite and articulate. Now, this may seem like no big deal, but trust me, I've had some duds when it comes to teenagers phoning here. There is one kid who when he began phoning here always responded with "Who is this?" when I answered the phone. Who is this? You mean, he doesn't know whom he is calling? He's improved now, and always responds with a greeting to me and a polite request to speak to my son.

I don't remember having telephone etiquette lessons with my kids. While there were times when I prepared my kids to go to a friend's house by reminding them to say please and thank you, and to greet the parents respectfully, I never "taught" them how to use the phone. I'm assuming that my son has just picked this up from observation, most likely me, because I'm the one he has seen use the phone most in his experience.

It was reminder that we are constantly teaching by our example. It's kind of sobering. Kind of like when you see your little girl playing with dolls, and the "mother" doll is heatedly chastising the "child" doll. It's humbling.

Even now that my youngest is fifteen years old (just turned so on Sunday; Happy Birthday, Gare Bear!), they are still watching. I need to remember that more.