Yesterday, my daughter jumped on her cot at preschool, instead of taking a nap.

The end of the world, right?  No.  But it felt like it, because this wasn’t an isolated incident.  Granted, she’s copying another little boy in her class, but still…

Thing is: she knows the consequences.  She recites her consequences…then does it anyway.

So when I’m hearing this from her very understanding teacher, my shoulders and neck tense up, and I feel…well…angry, to put it bluntly.  Outwardly, I tell Liliana I’m extremely sad that she won’t listen, and she begins to cry (she hates when we say we’re sad).

This, too, shall pass.  But I’m trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be learning here.  Patience?  Consistency?  Self-control?  Letting go?

That’s why I liked this…from The Parent’s Tao Te Ching by William Martin.  Oh, you need to read this book–it’s amazingly dense and perfect and rich.

You Have Lessons to Learn

The lessons we most want to teach our children
Are the ones we have not yet learned ourselves.
So we continually try to teach
what we do not know.

This is futile.
Try instead to refrain from talking.
Look carefully at the situation.
Listen attentively.
Let your mind be open to new understandings.
You will learn what you need to know.
And you will thus teach your children
how to learn their own lessons.

Nothing teaches children more
than a parent who is willing to learn.
What behavior in your children
makes you anxious?
What does that tell you
about yourself?