I have three creative, curious, active children. They are mostly grown now, but my goodness! That was a lot. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

For a long time, the biggest thing was just keeping them all physically alive. Soon enough, though, they seemed to more or less get a basic sense of what that entailed for themselves, and really leaned into the social emotional aspects of things. Oh my goodness.

One day at my wit’s end…after days and days of starting out days intending to be patient and wise, and ending days like the mom from “Malcolm in the Middle,” screaming, frustrated and hardly rising above their levels.

I sat.

I took breaths.

I grabbed a marker and paper. 

I wrote something like this…I think I have the original somewhere…not sure if this is it…
But I wrote it. I stormed down the hallway. I plastered it to the wall:

**STOP**
What’s Happening? 

How am I reacting? 

How are my actions influencing others to act? 

Am I making things

Better? or Worse? 

What will I do now?

Make it better!!!

I glared. I stormed out. I let them steep a while.

I don’t know if they read it or if they remember it, or remember myself how things went immediately after, but to this day they seem to act like they think about it; like they get the logic of kind, constructive empathy in an ecosystem, and they choose to improve the environment. It’s a lot nicer and more enriching this way. I enjoy their company and they appreciate each other. It seems to reverberate around them.

I am grateful. 

Hope it helps.

May God Bless Everyone.