halrunkel
“Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.” (Fran Lebowitz)
Too often, we seek to present our children as squeaky clean, smaller versions of ourselves – of what we wished we could have been like. We view them as reflections of ourselves, for better or for worse. This is no way to live.
The truth is, no matter how well you clean up your child, he will still struggle. He will hit his sister; he will lie; he will do something shocking.
While we might think that we want cardboard cutouts for kids who always say the right things and look the right way, we’d get awfully bored with them. Those kids end up in my counseling office in their 30s dealing with eating disorders and lack of direction.
Rejoice when your “perfect little angel” does something on the messy side. There should be room in your family for everyone to struggle now and again. After all, the real joy in life comes from the messy moments.
Peace begins with a pause,
Hal
