My friend Heather is super woman and teaches exercise classes at a couple of gyms. She started doing workouts at her house on Monday mornings for us and they have been awesome (yes, I will admit that I puked 1/2 way through the first one). Not only are the workouts great, but it is always fun to chat with my girlfriends. Today I was lamenting about Ali pouring cups of water from the bathtub onto the floor while I was downstairs. I asked her why she did it and her answer was "I don't know, I just did". I asked my friend Sheila, who's kids are a bit older, when that answer starts to change to something legitimate. She informed me that for girls it doesn't happen until about age 15 (and age 19/20 for boys!) - oh really!!!!
Evidently kids' brains don't develop the ability to process reasoning behind actions until that time. So, they do stuff and its dumb and they don't really know why. Don't we love being parents? Why exactly did we sign up for this? Oh yeah, those sweet babes also give us hugs and kisses for no apparent reason. I guess it all evens out.
I must admit that it was really nice to learn that my sweet Ali Jo is not *trying* to be naughty, she just doesn't get it - literally. I need to get that book... I am going to try really hard to keep this in mind as I parent. Another amazing mama that I know said that we need to think of our kids as "lesser intelligences". I know this sounds bad, but in reality they don't have the view and perspective that we do. She said that thinking of her children in this manner has enabled her to have greater compassion for her children as they make wrong choices. I am working to be a better mom and have LOADS more compassion and tenderness for my sweet babies, especially when times are tough.
2 comments:
I forgot about the "lesser intelligences" talk. That was a goodie. I think we should all read that book!
Great post!! Lily does the same thing with the spilling of water outside the bathtub . . . silly (and sometimes frustrating) girls :-)
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