quite simply, it's inevitable

It happened. And I was proud of myself... Kambrie was playing with my necklace. I wasn't really paying attention or I would have snatched it from her chubby fingers. Before I knew it, SNAP, the wooden balls were bouncing on my hard tile bathroom floor and the string was broken in half and dangling from her hand. I didn't scream. I didn't spew out intense anger. Yes, I was upset, of course I wasn't thrilled she just broke my necklace...but in that split second of a moment my mind decided that I was going to react calmly. Our kids learn from us. They copy us. They do as we do. How can I expect my child to react any other way in experiences and circumstances, than the way they are learning as their young pliable minds are learning from ME! Ah. Sometimes that is so much pressure it's overwhelming. We often don't realize that our reactions are EDUCATIONAL moments for our children. Our actions teach our kids, and we need to be a little more conscious of them than we are! What I was about to do, was just about to be recorded in Kambrie's little growing brain of an acceptable way to act when something bad happens. In that instant of Kambrie's pure mistake, I saw in her eyes, innocence. It was an accident. You could see her shame. She knew what she did. Why should I make her feel any worse? I wanted to train her how to fix it, show her that she could be forgiven, and remind her she was definitely still loved. Now, unfortunately, I don't react like this in every situation. I wish I did. But I'm trying. Kids make LOTS of mistakes and time after time after time gets exhausting and WE soon make the mistake ourselves of treating our kids poorly. I've observed too many children who make mistakes and their parents just harp on them and belittle them and it breaks my heart. I've challenged myself to be more patient, loving, and tolerant of these "mistakes." This article HERE is awesome! This might inspire you, like it did me, to try a little harder too (if you need the help)!