Do-over Morning

Do you ever have one of those days/mornings/events where you wish you could go back and start over and see if it turned out better? I had one of those this morning. It isn't that anything terrible happened, our morning at the park was just not the fun time with friends that I had imagined it would be.

Natalie and I joined several friends on an adventure to a new park in the area. I had visions of my child gleefully running around the park while I enjoyed the company of the other mothers. Well, that is not what happened. Instead, I spent a lot of the morning "talking" to Natalie to try to improve her seemingly rotten behavior. Some hard lessons were learned like if you spend time in timeout, then you have less time to play and you will be sad when we leave.

Looking back, it was not all her fault... I should have given her a snack before we got the park (keeping the blood sugar levels up is always good for the attitude). I should have let her play at her own pace instead of trying to keep up with the other kids and moms. I should have listened more to my little girl. These are the reasons I want a do-over.

Having said that, there were some lessons learned, I hope. Lessons like, she will listen to mommie. She will share with others. She will speak kindly to others.

Instead of a gleeful morning I was left doubting my ability to parent my daughter, wondering where I had gone wrong and created this beast. I was wondering if I place expectations on her behavior that are too high, if I should just be more passive with her. I was wondering if I had already been too passive with her. Mothering is tough!

After a therapeutic ride home with my dear friend, a peaceful lunch time, and a nap for Natalie things are looking better. I may not get to do-over this morning but we have lots more times to try to make it better.

We did manage to get some cute pictures!