A few years ago I came across a story which I loved.

Today I am going to share with you. Enjoy the read!

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Farmer and the Donkey

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a
well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the
well needed to be covered up anyway;
it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and
help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began
to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried
horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he
quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally
looked down the well. He was astonished at what
he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his
back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel
dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it
off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the w ell and
happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds
of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well
is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of
our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out
of the deepest wells just by not stopping,
never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

Free your mind from worries - Most never happen

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.

Expect less

Until next time…. Ann Eldridge, Family Success Club

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Parenting can be a struggle. I know that it’s something we’re continually having to practice at. We love our kids but they have this great ability to drive you nuts as well!

We were telling our youngest child, little 4 year old Finn, the other day that he was naughty. He responded “…but at least I’m cute”. What could we say?!? Check the photo out of the little cherub and it’s hard to argue!

I remember before our first daughter Ella (below) was born that we went to all the pre-natal and birthing classes and they taught us what would happen, and how the birthing process would go. All good!

It was great and we felt prepared and ready for the birth. But they never really taught us about what happens after the birth! I remember Ann and I sitting on the bed on the day we brought her home and saying to each other “So what now?”. I remember wondering to myself what I’d gotten into and would I ever be able to do this?!?

Well we’re glad to say that we have survived. Some things we’ve been taught from others experiences, some we’ve learnt from our own experiences and some we’ve learnt from others, like Dr Tim and Anne Jordan.

And trust me, we’re still learning! Kids are a great leveller and I learn so much from them about myself (not all of it good!).

Recently we had the pleasure of hearing Dr Tim Jordan, M.D and his wife Anne present in Las Vegas. Wow! What a Trip.

Dr Jordan is a Behavioral Pediatrician and he and his wife run a camp for kids in St Louis, Missouri called “We Love Kids” (www.weloki.com). Well we’ve been working with them both to allow us to add some of their content to our website and they’ve agreed! Ann and I are very excited about this and we highly recommend that you check it out. It’s great! We can also recommend their books which you can find at their website, “We Love Kids”.

Tim and Anne have some great basic ideas for the family that we’ve been working on incorporating into our own family routine . We do Friday night Pizzas (where the kids help make them - that’s Jack and his creation below!), regular team meetings (though keeping the kids attention is a struggle) and we also do family dinner as well as getting each kid to say what their favorite part of the day was. Our own little addition to this is to try and promote the concept of “Team Eldridge” where we encourage the kids to look out for each other. This one is work in progress!

I thoroughly recommend Tim and Anne’s work. To get you started, have a read of the article “What We Really Teach Our Kids”. It is a great introduction to their work and you’ll find more on our website.

Until next time.

Chris

Early this morning I received an email from a friend, which brought a smile to my face. It was rather timely, as I’d been having some cable problems which were causing great frustration. This was a bit of a reality check for me!

Here are some real images of some real-life telegraph poles in India. Take a look…

And to think that we usually have to ring a call centre in India when we have an issue with our Phone or Internet service. Crazy huh!

So if you are ever having a hard time, just remember that things could be worse…

Until next time, this is Ann Eldridge from the Family Success Club