Parenting

Enough Disney pics, for Pete’s sake…

How much fun are they having? – reckless stroller driving

How cool is she?

How sweet is he? – to dance with his princess in the Block Party Bash – Love him!

Thanksgiving Greetings from the Sunshine State! Sorry I haven’t updated sooner, but I was out of commission yesterday. Slept for 24 hours straight – not by choice 🙁 We’re all well now, I think. Very, very afraid to say that…

Join me for a day at Magic Kingdom; there are lots of pics, so this one is truly for the interested. Otherwise, I might lose you before we’re too far out of the parking lot…

This is how we spent our Monday.

Can you guess whose house we’re going to for Thanksgiving? We brought Cousin Stomach Bug too, so that just doubles the fun…

Hurts 🙁 I value truth. I am not always jazzed about the truth, and I often can’t swallow it very easily. But I do try to be sensitive and open to encounters with it – even when its taste is offensive and bitter.

Monday was one of those days where I had a week’s worth of obligations crammed into one day – all fun stuff that I was excited to do but still just one of those days when life and circumstances and responsibilities ask a lot of you. I am sad to say that I can even sweat the fun stuff. So when I have to go without an interval of collection and reflection during the day, I am a terror. Hence, on these occasions I judiciously limit interaction with others. Unfortunately my fam doesn’t enjoy that option. On Monday the girls and I were a train wreck. We sassed each other; we spoke sharply and negatively; we were eating each other alive. And I just found myself at a complete loss for what to do. The girls weren’t obeying me; they were yelling at each other non-stop, and I was doling out punishments left and right. I was at a loss…

Out of pure desperation, I asked the girls to come sit with me in the floor to pray – during which time I began to cry. If they thought I was nuts, they didn’t say so, but things improved after that. Tuesday was phenomenally better! I praised Carson at bedtime for her improved attitude, and you know what she said to me. She said, “You just needed to get it together and then we would.” Oh, yes she did…

I patiently retracted my compliment, addressed her insubordination, and accepted her apology. But it was not until this morning when I was asking God for the grace and the patience and the forgiveness and the wisdom to parent today that I realized that Carson had nailed me with truth last night. Though her tone and intentions were disrespectful and unappreciated, she was dead on. She spoke truth to me, and I will choose to receive it.

I taught high school long enough to know that on days I walked in with a crummy attitude it was invariably reciprocated by my students. I set the tone for interaction in my classroom. I set the tone for interaction within my family.

That’s not to say that I won’t totally bomb tomorrow, but at least I can come at this issue with a little different perspective.

Ah yeah, sometimes the truth does hurt…