I have just taken my daughter to her first day of kindergarten. A memorable day for most of us, generally not void of tears and fears, as I saw from the kids faces around me. I will have to be honest, though, and report that today went as smooth as butter, as I seem to have a daughter much likened to a social butterfly, with a thirst for new people and places.
Now don’t turn red with jealousy, because the other side of an outgoing child – in my case anyhow – is stubbornness (aka determination), short temper, and a bit of hot, hot, fire! You can see where this is leading, right? So how do we cope, and how can we pick our battles as parents, and make things a little better? It’s a good question, and one that I have just started becoming more aware of.
There is no excuse for putting up with bad behaviour from our kids. But after reading a book about parents having “time out” for themselves, I started becoming more aware of the times when I was clashing with my daughter, and realized that sometimes it was because I was frustrated, sad, or exhausted, which added to my short temper, and maybe it was me who needed the time out.
So how can we pick our battles better?
Parenting is always hard work and we can’t always get things smooth as butter, but being more in touch with ourselves our kids might just help to make for a deeper and happier relationship.
We accept
