Kids can sense frustration…

Sometimes you just get frustrated with your kid(s), especially when they’re in the “terrible twos” – at least I do. My struggle is not letting my frustration “force” me to respond to Kayla in a wrong way. My natural reaction when I’m frustrated is to vent and let off some steam, so I’ve been working on trying to keep the frustration in for at least a few seconds so I can cool off and make sure that I’m not constantly raising my voice or yelling at her. Well, I can tell that I must still have a way to go after her latest round of imitation today.

It was lunch time and Kayla was playing with her food (or something that we’ve told her not to do many times) and making a mess. As I got up from what I was doing and headed to the kitchen to clean up the mess, I said, “Kayla!” and then sighed like I do when I’m frustrated. Well, she picked up on the frustration right away and filled in my silence with her own commentary – “Come on, kid, you know better!” Then tonight we were getting ready to go for a walk and, when she wasn’t putting her shoes on right away like we asked, she again sensed my frustration and pulled out the same line. It actually made me laugh because I know I’ve used the “you know better” line, but I don’t remember saying “Come on, kid!” to her. The funny thing to me was that she understood the fact that I was frustrated and came out with what she thought I would say.

It also made me realize that Kayla really does know what’s going on, even beyond what we say and that I really need to watch not only my reactions to her, but in other areas such as reacting to other drivers on the road (another weakness of mine), how I react to Karis, etc. It’s really amazing just how perceptive kids can be and how much care that I as a father need to take to set a good example and be Christ-honoring not only in my words, but in my attitudes, actions, and reactions.