Friday, October 5, 2007

About doing better...

Some days are not good days. Some days I feel as though all I've done is nag my kids. Some days it feels as if I haven't enjoyed them at all and now the day is over and I can't get it back. Some days I've sent my kids to bed without telling them properly that I love them. Wednesday was one of those days. Kids being kids and me with not nearly enough patience so at the end of the day I feel exhausted and awful. But what is encouraging is that I am not doing this alone. It seems that on those days when I have very little patience, Tony has enough for both of us and I think that the opposite also applies. Some encouraging words from him on Wednesday evening as we settled down to watch a little TV were helpful in knowing that tomorrow would be a new day and a new opportunity to do better. That is something he often says "Tomorrow I want to do better with the kids", even if I think he did pretty good that day he always seem room for improvement.

So on Thursday morning I came downstairs and saw this note on the counter. I read it and smiled. (Tony, I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this - but I want to remember this). These few words changed the way I looked at the day and the day went well. I laughed with the kids, we acted silly and eventhough I didn't actually have 5 minutes individually with each child I approached the day with a better attitude. Today I will try again for the '5 minute' thing (you wouldn't think that would be so hard). Five minutes of quality time to connect. Thanks Tony for thinking about me and the quality of my day with the kids., and for giving me such a simple, but effective way to make me feel better at the end of my day.
On a different note, for anyone who noticed, Tony is actually a very good speller. :)

1 comment:

Jen said...

it's so true Heidy! thank you (and Tony) for giving me the reminder. i'm with my kids 24/7, but that doesn't mean i'm "with them" at their level. 5 minutes...a good goal to have.