I'm really thankful for friends who remind me that my success as a parent shouldn't be weighed by the outcome.
There have been some great outcomes recently. I'm nearly ready to label Liza's Project BigBed a success. Silas has been wearing underwear without being asked. Micah uses the potty 94% of the time. All of these things happen when I'm home with them.
Could someone else be doing this? Sure.
But it's me.
This week I found out that both Silas and Micah spent time in time-out at MOPs. This is Silas' second week in a row to get into trouble under another's supervision. This week, Silas told me it was because he and Micah were pretending to "fight like a baby" and another little boy got knocked over. Then all this happened at the pool. We swam for less than 35 minutes before I had to take everyone home. After they had received warnings for dunking, running, pushing, spitting and fighting and then ignored every single one, I made them dry off and go home. I feel all this reflects on my parenting but I'm just not sure what to do about it.
The boys have fun wherever they go. That's good.
Other kids get hurt when they rough house. That's bad.
They are cheerful and enjoy each others company. That's good.
They tune out adult instruction/supervision when they're wrestling. That's bad.
So hear ye this: God alone must be my judge. Not a stranger, not friends or enemies, not myself. I, alice, have typed these things with my own 8 fingers and 2 thumbs. Amen.
3 comments:
Don't you feel like it's so hard to know what is natural and good for a boy to act like and what isn't? I feel like I walk that very line in public a lot. I, for one, wish your boys were here more so that Andrew could rough house and wrestle and get a little hurt by someone else more often!!!
Yes! I know that it's possible for them to play and have fun while being respectful to others. I just can't figure out how to teach it without simply putting an end to the fun altogether.
AMEN!
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