Hello, he’s only four years old!

I tell ya if you are the type who hates watching yourself on video, or if you can’t sit through a scene where someone is reenacting your behavior when it wasn’t “at its best!” Then don’t have children!

Children are little mirror images of you, and boy do they project the good and the bad! I got a dose of my mirrored reality the other night when listening to my children interact with each other.

One of my most famous sayings is “now why would you do that?” I mean I think that is the first thing that comes out of my mouth when my children do something inappropriate. I don’t know why I ask that question, but I do. And apparently it is common knowledge that I’m going to ask that around here!

My two older daughters (7 and 5) were playing when their younger brother (4) did something destructive. Cyrita my seven year old let him have it, “Noah! Why would you do that? That just doesn’t make any sense!”
OUCH! That sounded so much like her mommy! In a split second I heard me and heard my anxiousness aloud. Then, like a slap in the face my five year old Cyriah replied, ” Hello, he’s only four years old!”

I can’t describe how much that stung! Here it is my five year old can see how irrational it is when I overreact to “normal” things my children do. I apparently couldn’t see it until then. The truth is he is only four! Sometimes four year olds just do stuff! They are learning, and it does no good for me to overreact like a “four year old” (pun intended) when they do!

What a lesson! I will be working on my patience! I will be working on making my reflection a little easier to swallow when it’s presented to me. Children they rely on us so much; today I am thankful for the lesson I found in them!

What lessons have your children reflected back on you?