When I read parenting articles I always get something out of it. If it just reminds me to do things again that haven't for a while. At a restuarant watching kids jumping on the castle, reading an article on separated parents. They spoke about playing Hi/Lo or thorns/roses with your kids regularly. When the boys came to eat their pizza's (I mean vegetables and water), I thought yes lets try this. I get blown away every day as to how much I underestimate my boys emotional maturity. 5 year old yes, expected answer. But then when my 2y11m answered, it made me a little teary that he could understand the idea of the game, and that I had never done this before. His Rose was seeing the big snakes in reptile shop, his Thorn when friend Nic pushed him at school.
The holidays came and went and as with all resolutions this game ended. Then suddenly I had some school redusal and tears, so decided to try again with more longevity. As it turned out my youngest was being hit by his friend regularly and was causing the problem. Discussing it with his teacher etc lead to problem being resolved and back to smiles. As always positive results leads to consistency.
My oldest is has taken to this and each night in bed he asks me what mine were for the day. Self reflection is not that easy, but when you get a response " I didn't know that made you sad" I realised that kids maybe need to know sometimes how they can impact on your day, or even that other things are also important to you.
Driving home from holiday, on my own with 2 kids in car, a bit anxious. I ask boys and get the response that there was nothing bad about the holiday, they enjoyed all of it. With a smile I could then focus on the road because it was worth every kilometre.
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