Monday, August 08, 2005

This is my great-niece at her fourth birthday party. She is five now. What a kid!

Even really good kids get sent to time out now and then. Recently, while sitting in one, she chipped the new paint from the wall. Her mom applied it only a few days before. Hey, I get it. It probably came off easy and felt good to peel it. Most likely, she was having a very satisfying kinesthetic experience.

Mom, however, lost her cool when she saw the fresh paint and had words with her daughter. Apparently, Mom had a lot of words...heated words. Hey, I get it. Painting is hard work. It is one of those jobs where you can stand back and see what you've done. When I paint a room, I expect the job to be pristine...for at least a week! Seeing chunks missing before the paint even sets would cause me frustration, too.

So my great-niece stood there, listened to her mom, and then said, "I know you are having a bad day Mom...and I know you are grumpy, but you need to get control of your temper!"


Tell us a story of a wonderful child...or of an emotionally mature moment (from a child or an adult).

Wanda Tucker, Coach

4 comments:

Cowtown Pattie said...

When my eldest daughter was about 3 years old, she was out in the garage with my mother, her Mimi. (She and I had lived with my parents for about a year after my divorce). My mother has a very sailor-ish vocabulary and often would forget about "little ears". Traipsing out to the dryer, Mom stumps her toe on a tire jack and sails half-way across the garage floor. Holding her breath and jumping up and down, she thought she had handled the cursing well until eldest granddaughter pipes up: " You want ME to say G-d dammit, Mimi?"

Wanda said...

Oh, that's good. Gave me a good laugh for the day. Thanks, Pattie.

Wanda Tucker, Coach

susan said...

When our daughter was little we didn't use time out. When she went to preschool, she came home one day and told us that her kindergarten teacher had told her she had to "sit and climb out!".

Wanda said...

Ahh...that's good. I love what they hear.

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