Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The "do-it-myself" Club

Patience is a virtue for a reason.

I think any parent trying to get out of the house at a specified time will agree.  Especially ones who are trying to teach their children how to do things themselves. And especially ones who are controllers by nature such as myself.  Impatience, frustration, discouragement, and rushing--ingredients to make a recipe for disaster. 

I dished up a heaping sour bowl of it this morning.

Isaac, like any child, is learning how to put on his shoes, coat, and back pack.  He is extremely distracted.  Like the dogs from the movie, "Up."  It's as if Isaac is seeing squirrels every 3.8 seconds when he is trying to focus on a task. 

My job is to bring him back to the task, right?  Here's what this morning sounded like...

"Isaac, here's your coat...Isaac...ISAAC....here's your coat, buddy....Okay...now...hey, no, please stop touching that.  Here's your...ISAAC."  (And so on, and so forth.)

I got angry.  I needed to get him to school since he has altogether refused to ride the bus in the mornings after riding it every day happily since he started last year.  I started feeling taken advantage of.  I started wishing Isaac would be more like every other kid.  Then, I stopped.

Isaac had put on his back pack.  The right strap was twisted and was upside down on his arm, but he did it.  He looked up at me, forgetting my nastiness, and said, "I DID IT!" 

I smiled back and took a deep breath.  "Yes, you did.  All by yourself.  You're in the do-it-yourself club!"  "YEAH!" He shouted. 

He is constantly reminding me that if I step back, let him (and myself) fail a few times, we'll learn.  We'll get the hang of it.  With encouragement, with kind words, with a little extra time. 

"Just give me a second, I'll get this on straight..."
I have to allow patience to do it's good work in me.  In Isaac.  In us both.

1 comment:

  1. Ah yes. Rushing a child into anything, big or small, definitely is a recipe for disaster. Been there on several occasions. Sometimes it's shocking how quickly frustration and impatience take over & transform us. Mere seconds can make a huge difference...oh, if only I could remember to wait out those seconds EVERY time. I guess we are all learning new tricks, whether it's finding the sleeve to put your arm through or finding the calm to put our frustration in. Both tricky things to master. Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy your blog.

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