Bring Your Own Sunshine

 

 

Wherever you go, no matter the weather,

always bring your own sunshine.”

~ Anthony J. D’Angelo

 

 

My mom always tries to make our meals look colorful.  She believes in bringing Sunshine into the home, even on the gloomiest of days.  She loves to mix her dishes, and she trained me to know how to set a formal table when I was 4 years old. 

 

 

Many made fun of her in the early days of our Home Education experience.  They laughed when they found out that we wrote out checks for fun (early economics class in 5th grade), memorized Chinese characters (Foreign Language), and/or included baking and cooking skills in our curriculum (home economics/nutrition/Life Skills). 

 

 

 

Studying these things made our schooling more exciting, and my mom always said that the

"added sunshine to our days."

 

Simple Home School Lunch

 

I think that "Bringing Your Own Sunshine" means being POSITIVE and MEANINGFUL.  It takes self governance to be positive instead of Negative in this current culture.  Many times, I was sent back to my room for being NEGATIVE at the dinner table.  My Mother called the Dinner Table the "No Negative Zone."  She had a zero tolerance for glumness and grumpiness during supper. 

 

This No Negative Attitude helped when supper turned out to be BURNED or YUCKY.  She did not make us eat the foods we found distasteful, but she forbade negative comments about the messed up food!   Later, when I went to Summer Camp and heard some of the negative comments about some of the foods that were served to us campers, I nearly choked on my food.  I challenge you, reader, to change the way you think and change the world by being positive at the Dinner Table.

Let me know if you accept my challenge in the comments below!