When I was looking for a specific quote I had pinned for a project, I saw this one; it immediately lifted me up and gave me a new perspective.
SO here is my "kindsight" for the week.
Monday - My wonderful mom got the girls from school for me so I could work on some home projects (cleaning, moving furniture). She should have a gold-dusted, diamond encrusted cape! I didn't pick them up until late. But, I did sit and listen to the girls each talk about their days, what's up in their lives when we got home for a bit. It wasn't a big huge deal, but I bet it was to them.
Hero worthy action: Making my children feel special by listening. Not listening while I was cooking, cleaning, folding, working. But face to face listening.
Tuesday - I was in pain from moving furniture, and couldn't get going. Note to self: despite your quest for the cape, your superhero skills will not include moving heavy furniture alone. I had a thousand things on my mind to do at work. I am so ready for the end of the year, my to do lists have to do lists. I realized that if I all thought about was getting to day X, when I could breathe again, I would miss all the wonderful things this day had. This was my motto for the day when we left the house.
Well, it kinda worked. Due to rain, evening activities were cancelled, so we came home and were lazy. Really lazy. Just laid around, watching tv, everybody kinda doing their own things. Not really connecting, just being. It was okay.
Hero worthy action: I get so wrapped up in what has to be done, and what I want to get done, that I forget to just let them be sometimes. I don't want every moment of my life dictated to me, even if it is fun. Downtime is good for everyone.
Wednesday:
Hump day is supposed to be great, right? Well. Not so much. Little Princess, for whatever reason, was a puddle Wed. afternoon. Blame it on three days of rain. (Anyone singing Milli Vanilli right now? Blame it on the raaiiiin...) Blame it on being overtired after a busy week at school. Blame it on my need to study with Big Princess for a state standardized test. Blame it on.. It was soo not pretty. Everything was a battle. And after ballet class, we got home and the dog had chewed up her favorite flip flop. She argued, cried, wailed, hit, blamed, ignored.
Hero worthy action: I didn't walk out the door never to return.
Thursday:
Softball game for Big Princess. Little Princess was still a puddle, but not as bad. She had fun playing on the playground next to the ball field. Lots of talking on the way to and from with Big Princess, because she wanted to spend the night with someone Friday night, and was rather consumed with it. I reminded her a lot of the need to stay focused on school until after testing.
Hero worthy action: Big Princess and I had some conversations that we really needed to have. Sometimes I feel like I nag all the time, but I really focused on her feelings, consequences of actions, and explaining myself. I actually felt pretty good about our conversation until Friday.....
Friday:
Oh, it was bad. This time it was Big Princess' turn to rock the boat. She made a bad choice, not earth-shatteringly bad, but still bad. It was directly related to the conversations we had Thursday night. She lost focus on her math nemesis. Not a grade, those haven't been good either. But she gave in to peer pressure and neglected her math. I was soooo disappointed, I was crying at school when I caught her. I guess pride goeth before a fall came into play here. As a result, she was not allowed to spend the night with the friend at the last minute.
Hero worthy action: I stuck to my guns. I have been known not to dole out a big consequence. But I followed through. I couldn't talk to her then, but later, we talked about all the many reasons her choice upset me, and how they led to a much bigger picture with much, much bigger consequences. And I kept my mouth shut when I knew nothing but anger would spew out.
I was so glad I sat down and thought it out in" kindsight". Because last week seemed like attacks from all sides - everyone was grumpy, snippy. All four of us were short tempered. Work was horrible, the kids were crazy! I fell running with them to run off some energy and my knee and elbow still hurt. I really wanted to crawl under the covers and make the world go away. Everything was a mess, and it seemed like a snowball of hurt feelings, disappointment, temper, disobedience, and calamity.
I encourage each of you to take some time when things are bad to view it in kindsight. Those of us in the quest for the cape expect superhero actions of our ourselves at all times. We never get ourselves enough credit. Sure, I still wish I had handled things better.
I declared Saturday the beginning of a new week for my family. And it was.... better.
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