She teaches me…
I’ve deliberated on whether to share this or not…the internet can be cruel. But I know that by sharing, this could help another Mum maybe not feel so guilty, or just have someone else say “yeah, me too”.
On Monday, I got the balance wrong. I mean really wrong.
Little Miss Hair Helper came up to my office, and wanted my attention. I shrugged her off. She proceeded to tap me, then the tap turned into more of a smack. Well, she got my attention! And without even stepping back for a second, I marched her off to time-out.
After a few minutes, I went to get her out. She apologised tearfully straight away for hitting me. I asked her what it was that made her hit me…well, her response went like an arrow to my heart. As I looked into her tear stained face, this was our brief dialogue:
Me: “Why did you hit me? You know that’s not how we get attention.”
Little Miss: “I know, but you didn’t look at me when I called you.”
Me: “But I asked you to wait.” (more like grunted!)
Little Miss: “All I wanted to ask was for you to give me a snuggle.”
I had to catch myself, as I was about to launch into a further lecture, I’m talking mouth open at the ready to fire type of ready; I had to apologise. All she wanted was my attention, and in a split second I decided that whatever I was doing on the computer was more important than listening to her. And it isn’t. Even if I need to meet a deadline, prepare an order, write a blog post, it is NEVER more important than her.
Some days, she teaches me.
