Parent Profile: Larkin Jarvis
by Melissa Blair / Photo by Erin Treadway
Larkin Jarvis.
Occupation: Retail Merchandiser for Hallmark Corp., Homemaker and mom. Spouse: John. Children: Natalie, 20 and Grant, 16
What are you currently reading?
I am studying the life of Moses in Bible Study Fellowship so I am in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers in the Bible. This study takes up my entire reading time budget but what better book is there, right?
What’s the favorite book you’ve read to your kids?
Love you Forever by Robert Munsch. I think I enjoyed it more than they did. I never got through that book without a quivering chin.
What was your most embarrassing moment as a child?
Having to run naked to the car from the swimming pool locker rooms because the mosquitos were so bad that I could not or would not get my clothes on for swatting the mosquitos. I was only 3 years old at the time but HORRORS! I will never forget it.
When did you know you wanted to be a parent?
I think I have always known. There was never a time when I didn’t want to “mother” someone or something.
I hope to teach my kids how to:
Show kindness to others and to be inclusive.
Go back in time to a moment with my children:
It would have to be the summer we unplugged. We disconnected cable TV and had very limited computer use. No video games either. It was a scary proposition and I was not at all sure that we…that I could do it. But, I did it knowing that the cable man was just a phone call away. The first few days were kind of hard because no one knew how to entertain themselves. Those awkward first days turned into weeks filled to the brim with board games, cooking together, playing outside and discovering so much about life and each other. The kids were happier and less stressed than they had ever been. When the cable man came back in the fall to hook us back up, the TV was not such a big deal anymore. We had all learned how to live without it.
I wish my kids would eat:
Fish
My kids won’t eat, nor will I:
Liver
Favorite thing to do with my kids:
I love to have my kids help me cook. That is one rare time when they will work together on something without bickering.
Advice to new parents:
Write down the cute, funny, or scary things your kids say and do. No matter how much you think you will never forget it. You may not forget it but, you will probably forget which kid did what.
Favorite time spent as a family:
Sunday lunches
Product you swear by:
Zicam
Best parenting advice you have ever received:
My husband and I took the “Growing Kids God’s Way” course when our kids were very young. The main things we took away from that 12 week class are found in two scriptures, Ephesians 6:4 says “Fathers do not exasperate your children instead, bring them up in the teaching and instruction of the Lord.” Colossians 3:21 says, “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” To us that meant be consistent and be reasonable. Make sure they know where the boundaries are and don’t keep moving those boundaries around. Kids get frustrated when the rules keep changing. We still rely on that principle daily.
