I don’t know if kids in any generation of humanity have ever been patient. I don’t know that I was particularly patient as a child, and I don’t know that I’m particularly patient now. It’s definitely a learned skill, a muscle that needs to be kept in good condition. Mine is weak and flabby.
It’s not just me, is it? Our collective patience is worse now, right? We have all gotten used to endless streaming, any answer we want at the click of a button. We want everything to be immediate – even our food, pressure-cooked in an instant pot. I have a friend who doesn’t own a microwave…and that just blows my mind. How does she heat up leftover takeout? Slowly in a pot I guess. She has patience I do not have.
Do my kids share equally flabby patience muscles? Yes. Yes, they do.
Sometimes when I’m in the middle of making them a sandwich, they look at me spreading cream cheese on bread, and ask me….to make them a sandwich. Like if it doesn’t appear instantly on their plates in front of them the minute they wish for it…they need to ask again, like I’m some kind of Siri or Alexa who didn’t understand the command the first time. I tell them their eyes are like arrows and they can use theirs to notice what my eyes are looking at (bread and a knife) and make a smart guess as to what I am doing. They can muster up their patience and wait for the delicious goodness that is a sandwich made with love by mom. Though sometimes, I’ll admit that sandwich has a few layers of frustration and irritation added in. Yum!
What is Patience?
Patience is waiting with a quiet hope. When we are patient, we trust that our needs will be met in time and that everything will work out. To be patient, you need to exercise your self-control. There are many things that are outside your control like the weather or the way someone else acts. When we are patient, we remain calm and in control of our emotions when things don’t go the way we would like them to.
Patience also means continuing to work at something until you finish it. Many things take time and patience is needed to see something you start today through to its completion sometime in the future. When we are patient, we have an idea of what the end result will be and we can be comfortable waiting for it to come together, even putting up with unexpected challenges along the way.
As someone completing major house renovations, this definition is a good reminder of what I need to be to get through to the finish line. I have to be patient. I have to be patient. I have to be patient.
Anyways, here are some books I read to my kids myself that feature patient characters.
Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems
This is my all-time favourite Mo Willems book. When my kids were toddlers, I would quote this book to them often. “Waiting is not easy! But we must wait…” I love the surprise of what they were waiting for at the end of the book. No spoilers! You gotta read it!
Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown and John Parra
This is a lovely story about a traveling library and what the little girl does while waiting for new books to arrive in her remote village – she uses her creativity to write her own stories!
Alfie Outdoors by Shirley Hughes
We just love Alfie in our house. In this story, Alfie plants some carrot seeds, patiently waits for them to grow, all so that he can feed his carrot to his favourite goat at the little hobby farm. But Gertrude the goat is missing and Alfie needs to wait patiently (and tackle his anxiety) until she is found.
The Garden in Frog and Toad Treasury by Arnold Lobel
In the story, The Garden, in the Frog and Toad Treasury – Frog is trying to get his garden to grow. He shouts at his plants, and they don’t grow. He needs to wait patiently for spring to come…it is just around the corner.
The Littlest Pumpkin by R.A. Herman and Betina Ogden
A perfect story for October with Halloween approaching – it also features a patient little pumpkin who is waiting to be chosen and taken home to become a Jack O’Lantern.
Hopefully these stories give you some good examples of what patient characters look like and you can draw on their examples as you try to encourage your own children in their patience-building exercises.
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Enjoyed this post? Check out some of my other recent posts!
- Making Homeschooling Work During Home Remodeling
- Why Halloween is Important for Kids
- Kids Books about Trustworthiness
- Having a Pet Hamster for Families
- Kids Books About Compassion
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Warmly,
-Heather
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