My kids make me laugh. And cry. And feel very tired. And elated. And sometimes with not so much as a breath in between!

School holidays can be challenging when you have little money – very few people who are not on holiday in an exotic location, and four very different personalities to cater for. But I do my best.

This holiday I decided that our project should be THE HANCOCK ZOO. So I went out and bought the children (at inordinate expense) a whole load of plastic animals. We then spent five days creating a huge zoo on a large piece of plasterboard from bits of an old toy farmyard, some bricks and a few other bizarre things. (Memo to you : if ever you want to make a nest for a chimpanzee baby, an egg poaching pod from Lakeland is remarkably good, especially as it comes with ready made holes for hanging purposes!! Florist’s raffia makes good ‘straw’ and a computer mousemat makes a good ‘pond’… But you probably won’t ever need to know that.)

As we have been making this zoo and doing all sorts of other things connected with it, I have been fascinated to see how the children have their favourite animals. Esther is hugely taken with a large shire horse (I know not strictly ‘ZOO-esque but she LOVED it!) She strokes it and pats it and talks to it. She picks up other animals and makes them kiss the horse. She puts it in the stable, and takes it out again. All the time saying “Ahh! Cute” in an approving way.

Ben is in love with the baby chimps. He puts them in very funny places and has great fun pretending they are being naughty. (I wonder where he gets his ideas from?!)

Sam loves the male Lion with its huge mane and Tom is rather keen on the female African Bush elephant whom we have called ‘Zuberi’ which means ‘Strong” in an African language. I can’t recall which.

I think what has really given me joy is watching how they have learnt to like one another’s favourites. This is surely one of the most important lessons to learn in life; that some things not precious to you, are incredibly precious to someone else.

Sam loves watching Esther cooing over the shire horse and she in turn has learnt to love the elephant who she was terrified of on day one due to the large aggressive-looking tusks. How lovely that the kids are learning to see what matters to others.

Certain things really matter to me. Other things I can let go. I am still learning that some of the things I don’t care about a jot, are things that others need and hold very dear. To belittle that thing is to belittle them.

So today, let us ask God for empathy that shows you what matters to those you love. Then ask God to help you to value that for them and to bless them in your care for them.

It might be something simple like having a cuppa made for them without them asking, or choosing not to check a text when they speak to you. It might be treating them to a bunch of flowers or just a little smile across a room. God knows what our favourite things are and what we need. Lets be on the look out to listen to Him and bless others.