I’ve had moments as a mother when I figure out that one my children is older than I’m giving them credit for. That sounds silly I know, but this recently happened with my pre-teen son and I had to apologize.
One of the biggest shifts as a mother that has tripped me up is going from “Mommy who fixes” to “Mommy who just listens”.
I am a natural born fixer. My kids come to me with a boo-boo and I kiss it, clean it, and bandage it. Done. But now that majority of them are older, this does not work. Their emotional boo-boos are not so easily fixed and if I try, they don’t want to talk to me anymore.
Ugh.
Not what I want.
So instead today I shut my mouth (after my apology) and listened to my son. Some of the things he said were down right wrong but I just keep listening. In the end I didn’t have to “fix” anything. He felt better after his talk and returned to his normal happy self. Next time maybe I’ll remember to listen first……but until then I’ll keep apologizing 🙂
Elizabeth