You know those moments when you just want to walk outside and scream? I definitely had one today. I was trying to get my daughter dressed and in the car, but she had apparently decided that I was going to have to work for it. And boy, did I ever. I finally had her dressed and we were walking toward the car. She looked adorable, despite her nasty demeanor, and I told her how cute she looked. She instantly gave me a giant pout, and announced, in a ridiculously whiny voice, that I hurt her feelings.
It's moments like these that I try to practice extreme patience. Logically, I know that she is just tired or hungry, and that she is actually a very sweet and well mannered child. But I am an emotional being, and so I am the one who ends up with the hurt feelings. I get much angrier than necessary, and end up loosing what little patience I have managed to gather. Although I am trying to follow through with whatever consequence I have laid out, no matter how ridiculous, inside I feel like a world class terrible mom. That was how I felt when trying to get Tes in the car today.
I was lucky enough to have my mom with me today, and so I left Tes in her care and took a break. I walked back in the house, and took a deep breath. Several deep breaths. I walked back out to the car, and saw my daughter, sitting happily in her car seat. She smiled at me as I got closer, all animosity had dissipated into thin air. I found that all the hard parts of my heart melted away as I looked at her. I asked if she was going to be a big girl, and she nodded and smiled. I just shook my head. No matter what you think you know about parenting, your children will make you second guess it. But today Tessie reminded me to pick my battles, and what a beautiful reminder it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment