Words of a Child

Rowdy Rebel was sooo irritable yesterday. I think it’s due to having potty training accidents. Poor thing. Poor me and Deep Thinker too…Anyway, we had a hard day.

So, at one point Rowdy Rebel was having a fit. At this moment, Deep Thinker asked me if he could sweep the living room. (Note that Rowdy Rebel cannot see Deep Thinker sweeping the living room under any circumstances ever. The few times he did, he grabbed the broom and the scene got very hazardous very quickly. Then to take the broom away is impossible and involves a lot of screaming, and I can’t bear to go through it again to make a short story kind of long.)

SO, I said no. Then Deep Thinker asks why and explains that it’s just to help me clean, and this, and that, and so I should let him. This whole time, I am trying to calm Rowdy Rebel down as he screams and punches me.

I responded to Deep Thinker with slight annoyance, “NO. You can’t SWEEP, alright? I can’t talk about it with you right now!” He seemed ok with this and started playing with Lego’s.

That night when I tucked them in, he said, “Mom, I’m very disappointed in you. You used a mean voice when I was asking you to sweep. I was just trying to HELP you.”

I said truthfully, “Well, I was having a really hard time with your brother, and I was in a bad mood. I’m sorry.”

Deep Thinker got the last word when he insisted, “Well, that isn’t a good reason to be mean to me, Mom. You can say it in a nice voice.” I love it when my own words are repeated to me and teach me things I should have already known.

Filed under: Child Kindness, Child Thoughts, Lessons Learned, Uncategorized