Friday, November 07, 2008

Today I was a fun mom

This week Rachel Anne blogged about speaking with kindness. When I first read her post I though, "oh, that's good one, I can do that, how hard can it be, I'm a pretty kind person aren't I?" Well, sure, I'm kind and polite to the gas station attendant and the clerk at the grocery store, my neighbor, and my son's teacher. But what about my own family? As I listened to my words throughout the day with a new perspective I realized how harsh I can be at times with my kids, the ones I love so much.



"Sit down and eat your breakfast!"



"Get your shoes, on.....we have to go NOW!"



"Pick up the junk all over the kitchen floor!"



I worked on it all day....but boy was it sure eye opening!



So I'm continuing to strive for kind words. It will be a daily challenge, I'm sure.



Today the kids and I just had fun. It seems to me that kindness flows naturally when I choose a good attitude and embrace joy everyday. It started when Anna came in my room this morning at 6:15. I was awake but not out of bed yet. We snuggled and talked for about 20 minutes. I asked her lots of questions and we chatted over the fact that we are both girls with blonde hair. She really gets a kick out of that for some reason. Then:



We picked raspberries

We colored with chalk on the sidewalk

I let Anna use scissors to cut a piece of paper into a million pieces of paper

We made mini english muffin pizzas and smoothies for lunch to surprise Wyatt

We read books

We talked some more

We went to Walmart and I tried not to freak out (kind words, kind words) when Anna tried to climb out of the cart multiple times and Wyatt hid on the shelving behind the vacuum cleaners....



You get my drift. Challenging? Yes, everyday. Rewarding? Absolutely!


She opens her mouth with wisdom; and on her tongue is the law of kindness. ~Proverbs 31:26

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this, Lindsay, and this strikes such a chord with me. Yes, we think of ourselves as really nice people, but I so often catch myself being short with those I love the very most. Thanks for posting this! Heh, when are you getting on Facebook...everybody's doing it :-).

Michelle said...

Hey Lindsay!
I just read your comment on today's Home Sanctuary Small Thing, about the Goat's Milk lotion...and what's a "nice people smell" ?! :-) I might have to get some if it makes me smell like a nice person! :-) My hands are SO dry right now, so I'm happy I get to earn points to take care of that.

samantha said...

Hi Lindsay. I like this post. Isn't it funny how being kind and speaking kindly with the ones we love most can be the most challenging?

Anonymous said...

Lindsey, it's it SO true. We treat perfect strangers so much better than we treat our dearest family members. The ones we love, adore and cherish more than anything.
I see the huge change in others when I speak kindly too! It's amazing what saying a kind word instead of a harsh one can do to ones attitude. Thanks again for the reminder.

Rachel Anne said...

I laughed out loud (but kindly) at the "not freaking out" in walmart. Oh, man...it's hard to be kind with your kids in that store! :)

I remember really losing it with a particular child in a parking lot and looking up to see a man watching me. How I must have sounded! I'm still embarrassed...if only I could find him and try to explain? Well, that was, like 13 years ago so hopefully he's forgotten it.

I was also going to mention the Goat's Milk Lotion! Where do you get it?? I wanna smell nice!

Rebecca said...

It sure is an eye opener when we really listen to ourselves. I am working on this one as well!

LizzyG said...

I have a feeling you're a fun mom every day.

I loved reading this, thanks for the thought provoking post!

Christy. said...

THis is so great! I have to concentrate on this one too....

KLB said...

Wow! That hit home for me too. Even at work with my students, I need to stop and think before I talk. Thank you so much for bring this to my attention.