It was one of those days in motherhood.
My oldest son was home from school sick. He wasn’t too sick, but had a fever earlier that morning and as a mom I just felt like he better stay home one more day.
Well, per usual, my son gets very energetic, and his little one year old sister got involved.
Things got too tough, and my one year old girl got hurt, and she was bleeding which always creates panic in moms.
Well, with no patience I snapped at my son and told him to “go away, you always takes things too far.”
My tone wasn’t nice, and I was very upset with him.
Luckily, baby girl wasn’t hurt too bad.
I forgot about the incident for a bit.
But as I sat down to eat my lunch, my heart tugged and I felt a voice say “Go apologize to your son.”
I am slowly learning to listen to those little voices, so I went outside to find my son.
I got down on his level, and I told my son: “I am sorry I got upset with you, I shouldn’t have said what I did and I know you didn’t mean to hurt baby girl.”
I made sure NOT to add in “…but you can see why I was mad right?”
I definitely wanted to add that, but I felt strongly that I needed to take the humility route.
Even more, I felt like my son needed to know that I genuinely felt bad that I had gotten upset, that moms aren’t perfect and that I loved him and felt bad about my quick-tempered moment.
I don’t write this to brag about making a good choice to apologize to my son….I write this as a reminder to myself and to others to first, try not to REACT.
When things happen, as they will, instead of losing our tempers in rage, trying to stay calm can save A LOT of pain and stress.
Even more, if we don’t control our tongues, I know it’s crucial to apologize.
We don’t need to explain ourselves, but simply apologize to our children.
Our children love us and they need us to show them by example how to apologize.
I pray everyday I can be more patient with my children.
I sure hope my children always know that I love them more than anything, and I don’t want to hurt their feelings in anyway.
Being a parent is hard, but goodness being a parent is the greatest blessing in the world.
xoxo,
Christy Lee