Learning the Hard Way... Lesson From my Daughter

This was not my finest moment...


I recently returned home from work and desperately wanted to finish some chores around the house, including mowing the lawn... Working a full time job, doing Reserve work on the weekends and attending MBA night classes makes those chores pile up on occasion.  My very understanding wife was holding down the fort inside while I went outside to tackle our small front yard and hopefully get in quickly for dinner.  Unfortunately my new lawn mower (a battery powered model) ran out of juice in the middle of the job.  I became frustrated because I knew I should have put it on the charger beforehand.  When I went to use the charger and hopefully get the job finished after dinner I realized that the charger was defective out of the box!  I became extremely frustrated because I knew I had thrown the receipt in the trash on accident a few days before.  At this point my wife asked me to come in and worry about it later so we could keep the kids on their normal night time routine.


I came in and resumed helping with the kids and getting things ready for dinner.  Wife had already cooked everything so we sat down to eat after washing up and in the course of our conversation I let my emotions get the best of me.  After telling my wife that I had thrown the receipt out for the lawn mower and therefore may not be able to exchange the charger she reminded me that it is a good idea to save receipts... This is not the first time I have made this mistake.  In that moment I forgot the little ears in the room and snipped back "please don't talk right now, I know what I did."


My daughter immediately took my side, looked at her mother and loudly stated "yeah mommy, don't talk right now."  I was horrified.  Is that what I sounded like?  Did that just come out of my 2 year old?  What am I teaching her!?


In that moment I realized the true gravity of my example on my children.  While my wife knew I was reacting out of frustration and that she wasn't the real target of my emotions my daughter took the moment at face value and ran with it.  I then spent the next few minutes explaining what had happened and why what I said was wrong and disrespectful.  She seemed to understand what I had said and actually apologized to mommy after I said sorry.  This was what I like to call eating a big piece of humble pie... Basically taking full responsibility for my error, eating my pride and trying my best to fix the problem. 


I now realize with eyes wide open that my children mirror what I say and do because I am the example they see on a daily basis.  From here on out I will endeavor to keep my emotions at bay and react with my kids in mind.  It is imperative that I teach both my daughter and son how to properly treat other people, especially their mother who I adore and respect with all my heart.