It hit me the other day that every single thing that bothers me in my life comes down to obedience. And, really, I guess that's what everything that goes wrong boils down to - somebody somewhere was disobedient to something. I never pegged myself as a control freak, but I guess I am, because when other people don't do what they're supposed to do it drives me nuts. It doesn't bother me anywhere near as much when it's just me. For instance, I was supposed to send an email to all the Primary teachers (Sunday School teachers for 3-11yo kids) explaining how to use this 10-minute break we're supposed to have now. And I was supposed to do that before Sunday, but I didn't because I got too busy cleaning my house and packing to leave for the weekend. Am I mad at myself for that? Nope, not mad, but I do feel guilty. Would I be completely annoyed if I'd delegated that and someone else hadn't done it? Probably. If everybody just did what s/he is supposed to do life would be a piece of cake, but I know life isn't meant to be a piece of cake.
Cakes and I have really been struggling for the last month or so. Homework and piano practice are torture. Today I decided that homework is from her 2nd grade teacher and piano practice is an assignment from her piano teacher so she should be suffering consequences from them. I've been trying to make her do things right at home to save her from suffering the consequence somewhere else, knowing that would hurt her way more than me getting on her case at home, making her finish her homework correctly and making her follow her piano practice instructions. Trying to force her to do something doesn't go well for either one of us. She's almost 8, which means she needs to practice making mistakes and suffering the consequences. Earning fewer tickets at school or less music money at piano is not the worst thing she'll ever suffer. And I know I need to back off and let her fail at these little things.
Its hard to let your kids "fail" at things. Its hard to let them learn to stick up for themselves... I know it will only get harder when they get older and they don't seem to "bounce back" as easily... Yikes! Also, how are you guys using that break? We are finding it interesting to say the least.
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