As I’ve mentioned before, I have been a highly stressed and impatient version of myself lately. Last night I made a resolution for myself: Today I am going to be calm. I don’t care what happens. I am going to be calm, cool, and collected. I don’t care what the kids do. I will not freak out, panic, do the eyebrow thing, yell, or act irrationally. This is my goal for today.
This morning, when I gathered the boys together for our morning talk/prayer/calendar/Bible story time, I told them, “Today I have a special goal. Do any of you know what a goal is?”
Daniel and John David chattered at the window, ignoring me completely.
Joshua shook his head, and Caleb sat up and said, “OH!! I do!! A goal is a net!! It’s the net in soccer, and you have to get the ball in it. And in some other games, it’s a net, but not in football. In football, it’s like this big thing, and there is no net.”
I took that and ran with it, naturally. Good job, Caleb! I explained to them what a goal is, and I told them that today my goal is to be calm– all day long. They nodded. I think they were actually listening. I can’t remember if this was before or after JD knocked over my coffee, which spilled into one of my drawers, all over my gym shorts. I was almost calm–not super calm, but I tried.
A few minutes later, I sent them off to get dressed for church. There are always protests to this, but this week they actually admitted that they DO like Sunday School, just not big church.
Caleb said, “Nooo! We HAVE to go to Sunday school. Sunday School rocks. I love it, but please, please, please no church!”
Joshua joined in the fun.
I explained how the day would go to them, and rejected their requests to just “have church at home”. Yet, Joshua kept on hounding me with his complaints, so I turned to him and said, “You know what? You are testing me, and I will not be moved. I am gong to be calm today,” and with that I walked out of the room.
It worked! They also walked out of my room, and the next time I saw them, they were dressed and sitting on their bed. Of course, I had to make them change their pants, as they thought Adidas jogging pants were the perfect Sunday clothes. 🙂
Do you have trouble staying calm when you are under heightened stress? We all have things we need to work on. As we speak, we are all ready for church. Nonna’s church doesn’t have a Sunday School class for Joshua and Caleb, so we are only going to ‘big church’ today. I told Joshua, Caleb, and Daniel to all go to Nonna’s room, where they keep the Legos, and be ‘master builders.’ They are having a great, quiet time back there. The baby is asleep. This calm, quiet house is providing the best rest that I can imagine. Oh, and this week the boys are going to VBS. They even have a class for Daniel’s age group. 🙂 I might actually get some time to breathe this week! 🙂 Then on Thursday, we are off to California!!! Things are really looking up, I think.
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For starters, I am continually impressed with you and your parenting ability. I only have ONE young'un, but sometimes he's enough to make you think there are 4 or 5 of him runnin' around. As for bein' calm, I have a hard time with that particular emotion most of the time but in my defense I also have to put mom in the equation and bein' as how she suffers from dementia I usually include her in the "child" category. Best of luck to you in your calm quest :D
Ok in my last reply I meant with, not worn. I'm not so great at texting.
LOL Thats ok, I figured it out :D And I truly hope that you don't ever have to go through the type of life that I am livin' right now. Don't get me wrong, I am honored to be takin' care of mom but it's def. a lonely existence.
Thank you! ! Dealing with a mom worn dementia is a highly significant stressor. I saw my mom dealing with that with my Grammy, and it is not something I look forward to.
I need to have this goal this week. I like to blame my lately crappy attitude on PMS'ing, but I know that isn't an excuse at all. I'm choosing to be grumpy and irritated and I don't know why...well actually I do. I really need to et back into a good quiet time routine. I need those devotional moments.
I am with ya, Rebekah. That is so important to me too.
I sometimes lose my patience and yell, which is not something I'm proud of, but it is what it is I guess. I'm working on it.
I think most of us do. Some just don't like to admit it. I don't always manage my stress well. This week is a big one for us. My plan is to tackle it one day at a time and pray for help with staying calm.