role reversal
January 8, 2016 § 2 Comments
It started in a moment of mothering, an emotional unraveling that derailed my intentions. I was reacting to fear, rambling over my worries with too many words, when I recognized my son modeling the very behavior I was forgetting.
He listened patiently, without interruption, as my voice rose; accepted his responsibility without excuse; offered genuine remorse. He also proposed, independently, to rectify the wrong. He had received the difficult message and respectfully assumed the weight of his error.
When there was no anger left in my posture, my son cried and I saw the little boy who always smiled from the truest, most joyful, part of his soul. The toddler who had to climb and explore, to push boundaries and move fearlessly in creativity. The boy with ideas bigger than his years.
The teenager who is not quite ready to grow-up and desperate to be taken seriously.
Then I considered the problem at hand. Something so much smaller than the scale of my reaction and the scope of my son’s day. An incomplete assignment became a lesson in presence.
I was so busy teaching that I almost missed the demonstration of mastery. I forgot the spirit of the little boy whose shoulders are now taller than my own and the character he has not outgrown. We aspire to shape our children for the world we anticipate, but they create a world bigger than our experiences with uncomplicated wisdom.
We are each greater than our mistakes.
scribblechic 
And wiser because of them 🙂
Great share Marie, thank you.
If we’re lucky, we learn from each other too. Thanks, Mark.