I decided to take my kids out for a morning treat before school yesterday.
I wanted to shake up the morning routine and have found a little walk, a good cup of coffee and sweet treat to be just the thing to bring a smile to our day.
I gave the kids two options on where we could go and they couldn’t agree.
In fact, my 3-year-old decided to whine and cry about it for an entire hour before we left.
I was ready to give up.
His behavior annoyed me. His cries made me want to retaliate and say if you are going to act like this than we aren’t going!
Here I am trying to do something nice for them and it’s not good enough!
It never feels good enough.
No matter what I do, they always want more.
Sometimes their cries can feel personal…like, I’m not a good enough mom.
But today I made a different choice.
I decided to make it mean I’m doing something right.
My kids feel safe to share their wants with me. I’ve created a space where they can share their emotions. I didn’t waiver on boundaries and told them exactly what we would and would not do. I validated their wants and told them I understood. I shared my own feelings of frustration and they listened.
It was not a care-free morning. There were tears, annoyances, a feeling of being rushed…and yet I get to decide what perspective I want to have of it all.
We always get to choose our perspective.
There are 100 ways I can look at our morning and I get to choose the perspective that makes me feel good.
Today, even with all the tears and tantruming, I choose to make it mean I’M A GOOD MOM.
What perspective do you want to take today? Your choice.
