When I read the Blog Challenge for this week, I thought to myself, "Yeah... don't think I'll participate this week." I know that encouragement is vital, and I know how buoyant I feel when I've been encouraged. But I don't know how good I am at it, or if I really have anything to say about it.

Then I started thinking about my kids and how different they are in their needs for encouragement. I also thought about my role as a parent -- and how important it is for me to decipher their needs and figure out how to best encourage them in their faith, in their self-confidence, in their academics, in their talents -- every wee aspect of their being needs to be "inspired with hope, courage, or confidence."

How do I help them tap into their "best" and let it flow from them?

My sweet Amara...

Her very name means Eternal Hope.

I think she's my artist. My musician. At school, she sees the painting or illustration, or even one of her dolls -- and she paints it or draws it. Not perfect -- she's only 4 -- but so well that I can tell exactly what she drew. And songs -- she can hear a song once and memorize the chorus and get the melody right. She's got talent in that area -- how do I nurture it? How do I inspire her to develop that gift and give it back to God? How do I encourage her?

She also seems like she may be a perfectionist (which she admittedly comes by naturally with double doses from both parents) -- so how do I encourage her to try new things, to make mistakes, to learn from them and grow!? It's so easy to bail on things that you might not succeeed at, just because you're afraid to fail (said from definite experience).

Right now the best encouragement for her is to applaud her braveness. Assure her she doesn't have to do something...but applaud her when she does, and remark how brave she was to do it. Most often, she'll try something - but it's ALWAYS on her own time. The harder I push her to do it on my time, the less likely we'll achieve succes. And we're guaranteed frustration (on both parts!)

And my charming Mr. D-Man...

He's a "go-go-go" boy. All the time. But he's also a little lover and so concerned about others and their feelings.

I think he's my little engineer. Things don't stay taken apart or put together very long at our house. He adores puzzles and is quite adept at seeing how they should fit together.

He's a pleaser -- loves to be cheered on. Loves to know that he's made you happy, and will go so far as to ask, "Mommy, are you happy wif me?" once he's completed a task. How often we go through life without thanking or complimenting those who have helped us or done something nice for us? Even more frequently we neglect to thank our family -- those we we love the most in the world!

Dominic's best form of encouragement right now is a thumbs up and a quick hug. He loves to know that he's on the right track, that he's pleasing us, and really that he matters.

He matters...

Isn't that what encouragement really boils down to? Taking the time to understand another person's life enough that we can walk along side them -- to inspire them with hope, courage, and confidence.

May my children always feel that I'm an encouragement to them.