Life's Little Messes
One minute I’m relaxing by the pool dreaming of the summer to come, the next staring at a big pee puddle in my hallway. There were little pee footprints running to and from, in every direction. I’m not kidding, there was pee down the hallway, pee in the bathroom, and pee all in the laundry room.
Baby Girl comes to me with pee running down her legs, starting to cry, and you ask , what did I do? I wish I could say that I was a good parent, showing awesome patience and understanding.
But that’s not the case. Cleaning floors was the last thing I wanted to do. I jumped on her to the point that she was red face and full of tears. I heard myself say things like “There’s no excuse! blah, blah, blah . . .Next time, stop playing and get to the bathroom . . .yada, yada, yada.”
I had a lot of time to think while cleaning floors. And concluded, I really messed up. (and then some)
Last week, when Great Grandma had her poop incident, I pulled it off better than with Baby Girl tonight. And the sad thing is that Great Grandma’s not going to remember if I was mad or not in 5 minutes. But Baby Girl is taking it all in, not to hold grudges (I hope), but to learn if she can come to me when she messes up. I definitely want her to feel that she can come to me, no matter what. I won’t judge her but will offer a loving hand to help her through it.
Tonight, that’s not the lesson I taught. Instead, my words and actions said loud and clear that accidents are not okay and you better not come to me with such a mess again!
Wow, that sucks! Needless to say, I told Baby Girl that I was wrong and asked her to forgive me. She hugged my neck and said “I love you, Mama.”
This parenting thing is tough to say the least. I’m so much better with after the fact rather than in the moment. God help me do better.
Baby Girl comes to me with pee running down her legs, starting to cry, and you ask , what did I do? I wish I could say that I was a good parent, showing awesome patience and understanding.
But that’s not the case. Cleaning floors was the last thing I wanted to do. I jumped on her to the point that she was red face and full of tears. I heard myself say things like “There’s no excuse! blah, blah, blah . . .Next time, stop playing and get to the bathroom . . .yada, yada, yada.”
I had a lot of time to think while cleaning floors. And concluded, I really messed up. (and then some)
Last week, when Great Grandma had her poop incident, I pulled it off better than with Baby Girl tonight. And the sad thing is that Great Grandma’s not going to remember if I was mad or not in 5 minutes. But Baby Girl is taking it all in, not to hold grudges (I hope), but to learn if she can come to me when she messes up. I definitely want her to feel that she can come to me, no matter what. I won’t judge her but will offer a loving hand to help her through it.
Tonight, that’s not the lesson I taught. Instead, my words and actions said loud and clear that accidents are not okay and you better not come to me with such a mess again!
Wow, that sucks! Needless to say, I told Baby Girl that I was wrong and asked her to forgive me. She hugged my neck and said “I love you, Mama.”
This parenting thing is tough to say the least. I’m so much better with after the fact rather than in the moment. God help me do better.
Comments