Caps For Sale

We have a storybook in our home called "Caps for Sale" (author Esphyr Slobodkina.)  It is about a peddler who sells caps.  One day he lay down to take a nap under a tree.  When he woke he discovered that his caps had been stolen by a band of mischievous monkeys.  He tried everything to get them to give back his caps.  He shook his finger at them and scolded them.  Instead of giving him back the caps the monkeys just shook their fingers at him and scolded him right back.  He shook both his fists at them and scolded.  They just shook their fists and scolded just the same.  He stamped his feet.  The monkeys stamped their feet and still did not give the caps back.  Finally in frustration, the peddler took the one remaining cap on his own head and threw it on the ground.  Much to his surprise, each and every monkey took the cap off of his head and threw it on ground in just the same way.  The peddler gathered his caps, stacked them up on his head, and went on his way.

I often call my children, especially the little ones, by funny little names.  "Little monkey" is one of them.  But truthfully, my children are actually a lot like the monkeys in the book.  They are excellent copycats.  Children learn a lot of things about the world and about relationships by emulating what they see around them.  Sometimes we as parents teach our children more by what we do than by what we say or tell them to do.  How often do you hear your child say something and think, "Where did she come up with that?" only to realize that you yourself often say the same thing. 

When you have lots of children in your family, younger ones will also emulate the older ones - the good behaviors and speech as well as the not so good.  I try to teach my children that they have a responsibility to make good choices in their walk and in their talk, as they have younger brothers and sisters that are always watching them, and copying them. 
 
Here is something that happened the other day as told by one of our daughters in an email to her missionary brother, Kyle:

"So when we were doing family prayers I was on this little horse thing instead of kneeling down, and Sophia saw what I was doing and she wanted to do it so she got on her tricycle. Mom saw what I was doing and said quietly that the horse didn’t need to be part of family prayer and so I pushed away the horse and emiddietly (immediately - her spelling) after Sophia saw me do that she pushed hers away likewise. I didn’t realize ,but mom sure did. She right off said I was a good example. That made me feel so good inside. I now am really careful about how I act and what I do and say, because if I don’t my little sisters will still follow what I do and say. Once I started to act a little weird, and then Emily started to do what I did, and so it taught me a lesson, that I need to be careful of how I act. I can remember I always wanted to be like you boys (remember, she's writing this to her brother), and so I took off my shirt when I slept and everything…."

Our daughter learned that day just how powerful her own example can be to those around her.

President David O. McKay said,

"Example is the influence that emanates from one person and sponsors a similar response in another person.  The power of example is probably the most common source of moral motivation, especially among children." (Gospel Ideals, p. 419)