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I often wonder if my 6 year is just purposely disobedient, or just forgets everything I tell her, or just doesn’t hear the words that come out of my mouth, or just doesn’t give a crap about what I ask of her. But, more times than not, she is doing the exact opposite of what I have asked her.
“Please, no food or drink on the couch” Then, I come out from putting the twins in for a nap only to find her lounging on the couch with Pirate’s Booty and a chocolate milk.
“You’re going to play in your brother’s room? Nice, just don’t jump on his bed” Then I open the door to find them doing back flips off of Nolan’s jeep bed’s roll bar!
“Please don’t put your little brother in your baby doll stroller.” 5 minutes later she comes sprinting down the hallway with her brother in her stroller, just what I asked her NOT to do!
The list could go on and on and on…it is so frustrating! I know that I ask a lot of her. She is the oldest with 3 little brothers. With my husband working most nights, it’s me alone with all 4 kids a lot! I’m always saying things to her like, “You’re the only here that can help me. Your brothers are too young, I can’t do this with out your help.” and that’s probably not always fair for her. But she is so smart and so quick and extremely capable. So, I think that’s why I get so frustrated with her. It’s like, I know you know better than that, girl! Come on!
Surprise!
Then, as I went through her school folder, I pulled out this picture she made.
It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was trying to write (not too bad for a first grader) but when I did, “Be kind to the Earth and pick up the garbage” I had to ask her about it.
She explained that her teacher had asked the class to draw a rule they follow at home. “Is this the first thing you thought of?’ I asked her. She said, “Yeah! Some of the other kids said Listen to your Mom, and Don’t cry when you lose a video game, but I think this is the most important one!”
Proud Mom Moment
I was so proud! Sure, there are plenty of other important rules she could have come up with but respecting nature and helping our planet are very important to us as a family. Not being lazy, cleaning up after yourself and not littering are also things that are very important to us. It was so nice to see that she is picking that up from us. And that she seems to understand the importance of it. I also find it interesting that a 6 year old can grasp this concept, yet so many grown-ass adults throw their garbage all over the ground, but that’s a rant for another day!
So I’m going to hold onto this feeling of pride. The next time I feel like I wasting my breath or I feel like she’s ignoring me and my blood starts boiling, I will think of this picture. And I will know that I am not wasting my breath and something is sinking into that 6 year old brain. And maybe it’s not all showing just yet but I can be certain that she is picking up some of what I’m putting down.
And that’s all we can really hope for in the struggle to not raise little assholes!
