This morning was quite eventful at our house. I gathered up all of my things and headed to my car to begin the 30 mile journey to take the kids to school. Then I discovered that my car key was not in its usual spot. How is this possible I thought.... I almost always put my key in the same spot. I am not super organized I have just had this same kind of morning too many times and have (for the most part) learned my lesson. After 10 minutes of looking I stop and prayed... {God I have no idea why this is happening or what lesson I am supposed to learn from it, but I am in this moment to learn and I have faith I will find this key. I won't get upset or freak out. I know we are going to be late and life will go on}. Shortly after that I remembered that I did in fact put it in its usual spot (high five), but Olivia had grabbed it to get into the trunk....after some baby doll related item I am sure.
When looking for a lost item...I always try to channel Bill Cosby. Do you remember this episode? It is what I always think about while hunting down a beloved item.
I had Olivia retrace her steps and we finally found it in the back seat of my car with some of her baby doll stuff.
So this parenting thing... it is something. It turns out this morning the lesson wasn't for me, but for me to teach my daughter.
I finally got her to school, but before taking her in I had her crawl in the front seat with me so I could begin my talk (she was already late, right?)
I began by telling her that she made a mistake, but that it was ok because everyone makes mistakes. I told her that no one was perfect except for Jesus. Then I told her that there were two things about mistakes...
1) You have to learn from your mistakes.
I told her that most importantly she needed to remember this morning and if she found herself in a similar situation to remember to not do the same thing, to do better. I asked her what she could have done differently and her reply was that she could've put the key back up where she got it. Yes!!! Exactly!!!
2) You have to be accountable for your mistakes.
I told her that she had to be honest about her mistakes in life and be responsible for them. I told her that when mistakes happen she couldn't blame her brother or anyone else. I told her that she just had to admit them, try to do better and move on.
As I sat there talking to my 7 year old daughter I wondered if any of this was sinking in. I hope so because I really believe that if kids can just learn from their mistakes and take ownership of them it would save themselves and their parents a little bit of heartache later on.
I know that in parenting it is much easier to loosen the reigns later on than it is to tighten them up. So yes, I am a little strict on my kids and I do try to continuously teach them life lessons in everyday things. I want them to know how to handle situations before they find themselves in them and don't know what to do.
This week I also came across this blog post on parenting that I thought was wonderful. If you have time click on the link and read it. It made me feel a lot better about not always feeling like the "fun parent." Someone told me once that if your kids aren't mad at you at least once a week then you aren't doing your job.
Hang in there parents! I know that it's not always easy, but.... as long as we are consistent and we let our kids know that we love them... things will be just fine!
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