Monday, April 7, 2008
Broken Jar, Love Intact
So I had a chance to practice what I learned the other day about sympathizing with my kid's feelings--instead of focusing on their behavior. Lena has been working on a 5 foot long, bean and pasta "mosaic" for over a week now. She wanted to finish it up today and grabbed two jars of different colored beans to put on the table. She dropped one jar and it shattered sending a million beans and glass shards scattering. I said exactly what the book said to, "Oh. Jars break. You must feel awful. I'll help clean it up." I wanted to rant and rage and lecture, but I bit my tongue hard and just started cleaning. (I admit, knowing that I had written a blog on the subject really made me want to practice what I wrote about!) Lena helping willingly and when we were just about done she said, "I wish I could go back in time. Then I would just get one jar instead of two." You know, I just had to show love and patience and she taught herself the "lesson".
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4 comments:
Good for you! You know, that's one really good thing about blogging. It makes you really think about your life and what you're doing.
I find it easier to just love my kids for who they are when I regularly blog about all of the cute and adorable things that they do. It helps me remember what's really important- who they are, not what they do!
I would have lost it... ranted and then felt horrible and apologized later.
Way to hold your tongue and roll with it.
BTW. The bread was great! Thank you. But honestly, it was no problem to come over and watch the kids. They were terrific!
I find patience is elusive. One second I have it and the next it's evaporated. I'm hoping it's something I can develop to the point I'm not always trying to grasp onto it but it comes naturally.
Wow...that is great! I am soo impressed with Lena's thoughts after the accident. Way to practice what you preach!
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