overwhelmed!

last week of classes for the quarter. confirmation. short week. not enough time. and i'm writing this...hmmm...ah well. here is an interesting question....

how do you keep your kids from catching on to the grumps and grumbles of the world? example -- something bad happens in your day, you want to talk about it, but little ears catch everything. not that they shouldn't know we have bad days -- reality is some days are going to be poor and they gotta understand that faith is something that guides us through the good and the bad days. it's not sunshine and roses all the time w/ Jesus, sometimes it's cow pies and rose thorns, too. but He is still God in it all. the thing i think about is that the little ears might catch on not only to the happenings, but how it affects how we think of others, institutions, etc, and then start adopting the grumpies towards the given problem just like us. adequate description of the sins of the fathers being visited upon the sons i guess...so i'm wondering what we ought to do? logic says wait until they go to bed. but what if you can't stay awake? what if you are a feeler like me -- my feelings dictate my mood frequently -- and i'll be in a poor state of mind until i say it? what if the 3 angels won't give you a moment to speak quietly in the kitchen cuz they love you so much? what if...

i guess the bigger question i pose is this: how do we keep our kids from getting negative impressions and attitudes towards stuff that we might not think highly of or are bothered by? should we keep it from them -- put on the game face and pretend nothing is wrong? or do we be honest, regardless of the impact it might have?

raising kids is hard work, huh.