lundi 31 juillet 2017
The Lesson 1 Mom Learned After Refusing to Let Her Daughter Paint Her Nails
"You know the days where you have a To Do List as long as your arm? A pile of laundry that could warrant its own zip code? A kitchen that looks like a tornado went through it? Yeah, today was one of those days," starts Cassie Hilt of The Chronicles of Motherhood blog in a post to Facebook that every parent will be able to relate to completely. What started as a typical busy day full of mundane household tasks for Hilt ended up being a special day thanks to her daughter who forced her to slow down and appreciate the small moments we all too often overlook.
"She came up to me so sweetly and said, 'Mommy, how 'bout you paint my nails, and then I paint yours?!'" wrote Hilt. "'How about Mom just paints yours sweetie?' Her face fell. 'OK, because you don't have time for me to paint yours too?' Yes, that was one reason for my answer." Hilt continued, outlining the other practical reasons for initially not wanting to have a mini spa day with her little one.
What if she painted them and the baby woke up? I wouldn't be able to grab him with wet nails. What if my laundry buzzed and I had to switch loads? Can't do that with wet nails. What about my hair that needed to be blow dried? Can't do that with wet nails. The bills I was trying to pay, the calendar I was trying to update, the dishes I needed to wash. You can't do any of those things with wet nails. Right?
But her little face was so disappointed when I told her I didn't have time for her to paint my nails. So I changed my mind, and told her she could paint them. And that little face of hers lit up, and she got right to work painting them. And do you know what happened?
The baby didn't wake up from his nap. The laundry sat in the dryer. My hair dried on its own. The bills, the calendar, and the dishes - it was all waiting for me when she was done.
In slowing down and allowing her daughter to paint her nails, Hilt realized that this simple 10 minutes out of her busy day was the highlight of her daughter's. Hilt admits that it's easy sometimes to say no to our children when it comes to doing something we feel isn't "important" enough on our long list of things to do, but that saying yes to those interactions can result in some of the most meaningful "big deal" moments from a child's perspective.
Hilt ends her post with an important observation about parenting small children that every parent can get behind:"If we show them now that we value their time as much as we value our To Do Lists, they just might keep coming back to us for all the important things."
Articles
0 comments:
Enregistrer un commentaire