Lovely post, and a good reminder. My only concern is that you seem to be rather hard on yourself, taking every worry and concern of your child so deeply to heart you feel like a "bully" every time you need to rush a bit. Believe me, I know this feeling! But the reality of life is that, sometimes, we really DO need to be somewhere on time. Living life like this on a daily basis is, indeed, very stressful on our kids and on ourselves. Once in awhile, however, it is OKAY to have to rush out the door, to have to miss a few extra minutes of playtime. It really is okay to not always be able to stop and smell the roses. What's truly important is to try and keep a balance. Get moving when you really need to, but make plenty of time for noticing, too. It's so easy, in this day and age of sky-scraper parenting standards, to always feel like we're damaging our children with every little decision we make. But none of us are perfect. As long as we don't expect perfection from our children, they won't come to expect it from us, either. If we constantly affirm for our kids that we think they are wonderful just as they are, if we embrace and nurture the things that make them unique, they will carry that with them much more than the times we had to rush them to get to work on time.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
Lovely post, and a good reminder. My only concern is that you seem to be rather hard on yourself, taking every worry and concern of your child so deeply to heart you feel like a "bully" every time you need to rush a bit. Believe me, I know this feeling! But the reality of life is that, sometimes, we really DO need to be somewhere on time. Living life like this on a daily basis is, indeed, very stressful on our kids and on ourselves. Once in awhile, however, it is OKAY to have to rush out the door, to have to miss a few extra minutes of playtime. It really is okay to not always be able to stop and smell the roses. What's truly important is to try and keep a balance. Get moving when you really need to, but make plenty of time for noticing, too. It's so easy, in this day and age of sky-scraper parenting standards, to always feel like we're damaging our children with every little decision we make. But none of us are perfect. As long as we don't expect perfection from our children, they won't come to expect it from us, either. If we constantly affirm for our kids that we think they are wonderful just as they are, if we embrace and nurture the things that make them unique, they will carry that with them much more than the times we had to rush them to get to work on time.
Best wishes,
A Noticer with a Noticer child