I think one of the main things a mother will say that her children taught her is patience. I couldn’t agree with this more. I have never spent so much time telling myself to stop, breathe, wait, and have patience. This moment shall pass, we will get to where we are headed, don’t explode, give her a moment.
I have a pretty easy toddler but it doesn’t mean we don’t have our moments. Our moments of trying to get out the door, of mamma just needing to pee, of dinner on the stove or cleaning needing to be accomplished. She is hanging on a leg, asking me to sit and play with her, requiring a cup of water or a snack.
For the love of God child can you just please get in your car seat and not literally stop and smell the flowers along the way?
But then I remember she is still new to this world. She doesn’t understand the rush, she needs a moment to have a tantrum because learning shoes is tough, she wants to stop me to discuss the poopy she did in the potty earlier in the day, she needs to inspect the flowers that spring is slowly trying to produce and is that a bug? Better follow it somewhere. All these things I quickly do myself, quickly glance at, shove feelings down to be dealt with later, and don’t give a second thought about. She is discovering the world around her, learning and processing it all.
Therefore, she gives me patience. She teaches me daily to take a step back, listen, feel, and pay attention to all the little details of life. It is such a cliché what kids can do for us but a cliché that many of us take for granted. Even find down right annoying because dude I can’t fetch you a 4th blanket because the water is boiling over on the stove.
It isn’t always possible, but giving her the extra time and space has been a game changer. The art of letting go a bit and letting her, not take charge, but lead at times, has taught me more than I thought it could.
What has your toddler taught you lately?
Through My Mistakes 
I love this! It is so true, it is so easy to get worked up as a parent. This is a good reminder to be patience
It is SO easy to get worked up as a parent. Amen to that. If only we could have the simple wonder of our kids all the time. But then work, bills and life kinda of takes over:)
This is a fantastic observation! It’s so true that kids go at their own pace and it really does make sense considering they are seeing everything for the first time. Really it’s a quality I wish we held onto as we grow up.
I wish we could do this as adults as well. We just lose the magic over time, sadly.
This is exactly so true! On a little hike the other day H stopped us to point out a pile of dog poop on the side of the trail. I had to pee so badly and just wanted to get back to the truck but he was adamant that we all stop and inspect the poop. It was an amazing discovery for him for reasons i will never understand. Or last night I really needed to cook dinner, but he had a story he needed to tell me and forced me to sit down and listen to this story that made absolutely no sense at all with his limited words, and he stumbled through it as he talked each part through. It was painfully slow and just made zero sense, but it was such a special moment to sit there, next to him, as he told me his first ever story, which was clearly a really good one in his excited evolving brain. Patience is the absolute biggest thing I have been taught in my time as a mom. Some days it’s really hard to practice it, but it gets a teeny bit easier and easier as the weeks and months pass. One day it will be us bugging our teenagers and then losing their patience with us! Oh how the tables will turn!!
Oh how the tables will turn! Haha. Sure, there are days where I still have zero patience but man, those little moments can mean so much and you know it means the world to them:)
We put our kids in ski school last weekend so they could get some tips from the pros and my husband and I could have 1 ski day together this season. Instead I spent most of the morning on the phone with the instructor who was doing her darndest to keep my son happy & engaged (he had loved lessons the month before). Finally she texted me and said, “your son is so cute, he just keeps saying that he can’t stop thinking about you.” I finally called it and went back to the base to get him, and when I picked him up, he was SO happy to see me I had to remind myself that THOSE moments were worth it, even if it wasn’t how my day was “supposed” to go.
Oh my goodness that is just so damn sweet! In the end it does turn out okay, we just have to see the silver lining and know that we will have many “alone” days down the road when they are teenagers.