A neighbor and I were recently chatting about raising our boys. Hers are grown, as you all know, mine are not. We both said that in our experience motherhood gets better with each passing year. It’s a combination of learning to accept things exactly as they are and the natural maturation of children. Basically it’s easier to let things slide if your kids are more self sufficient, follow directions better and have more fully developed personalities to entertain you.
I was keenly aware of this conversation as I took T.Puzzle to lunch at Chik-fil-a. It was a breeze. He sat quietly and promptly ate his food. He went and played independently. Instead of endangering other kids with aggressive behavior, he actually helped a little girl who was stuck halfway between platforms. Yes, that’s right, he HELPED her. He didn’t bite her, kick her or punch her. He was so proud of himself he ran out to tell me all about it. He also lobbied that this may be a great item to include in his behavior report for tae kwon do this evening.
Naturally, there will be times today when he tests my patience. The nice thing is that now there is more balance. He gives a little and therefore so do I.
And for the record as I sat alone drinking my soda and watching him play, it may have been the best Diet Coke I ever tasted.
