Perspective

In a family, day by day, there are two perspectives. That of the parents, and then the way the children are viewing the world, the moments. I always loved what Dumbledore said, "Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young". As parents, it is very important to remember what it was to be young. As a parent, our perspective is so completely different, it can be easy to forget. I am certainly guilty of this.

As I contemplate what a parent perspective is, I find it can be all too easy to slip into a selfish mind frame without meaning to. We see something our child has done and think about all the extra cleaning and work we will have to do now.

One day, my husband taught me a very good lesson on perspective. I walked into the kitchen to find eggs cracked all over the kitchen floor. Yolk and egg gunk were everywhere. I completely lost it with my kids, I was so mad. Eggs gone. Kitchen mess! This was horrible!

Well, Jeremiah gently took me aside. "You know," he said, "they didn't do this to make you upset or to make a huge mess. Smashing eggs is fun, didn't you know?"

"No," I said grumpily. I was not to be pacified.

"It is," he said, "Come on, try it." He flashed me his goofy grin and pulled me toward the kitchen. He could tell I was trying not to smile as I kept a scowl on my face.

"No, you are silly, it will just make a huge mess to clean up." I said as he dragged me to the fridge.

"I'll clean up the mess," he said as he pulled a carton of eggs out.

"You will?" I said.

"Yes, now throw it." He said, handing me an egg.

"I can't" I said.

"Do it, come on! It is fun!" he said as he threw one on the floor with a laugh.

So there we sat for the next few minutes breaking eggs on our kitchen floor and giggling like little kids. I'm sure we were quite the sight. But, his lesson has stuck with me. It was true, my kids had not done this mischief to be mean to me or make my life harder. Simply, they saw fun. They were learning about the world...and enjoying it! They don't see the weight on our minds- the bills to pay, the chores to do, the endless errands to run.  They can't know. So, from that day on I have vowed to take a moment to remember what it was like to be young. To stop and change my perspective before I react, lest I become the guilty one.