I was being so good contributing to my blog a little every day. And then it happened. A pipe burst in our bathroom yielding no less than a few gallons of water a minute. And I have to tell you when it comes to home repair–we’re not the smartest of folks in the world. We really know very little.
So after calling everyone in the world that we knew who could possibly help us, our poor darling pastor came down and showed us where to turn off the water. So we now have no cold water. And no running toilet. And 7 people. I think you can see how I could possibly take off a day from the sneaky mama.
Of course, the kids stood still during the 45 minutes that our toilet pipes were spewing gallons of water. They completely understood that this was an emergency and that they should a) not ask any questions about how big the turtles were going to get b) not need any snacks c) not get into any arguments with each other that required parental stepping in and d) not get in the way or in any way come in and get themselves wet.
NOT! A few of my kids are old enough to understand that something was awry and that we had not turned our bathroom into a water park. The twins however, thought that we had installed fun sprinklers in the bathroom and were a little too thrilled to engage themselves. Of course we didn’t let them but wrangling toddlers was just another thing to add to the picture along with trying to hold the water in and making phone calls.
So when things go awry in life, what do your kids learn from you? They are watching what you do and learn about how to handle stress all from watching you. So today, when you get cut off in traffic, or if your pipes burst. . .handle it in the way that you would want your kids to handle so that they see and learn. (They see and learn anyways–you might as well take advantage of that time!)
Sneaking in moments,
The Sneaky Mama
The Sneaky Mama 
eclexia said
There is an advertisement on the bus station shelters in our town that has the picture of a little girl about 2 years old on it. It says something like, “Everytime you yell at another driver, you teach her a lesson.” We drive by it regularly and it made an impression on me, but also on my kids. Truly the things we do and say, especially in the times we are most frustrated, affect more people than just ourselves.
To say nothing of, Does it really make you feel any better when you yell at someone when you are frustrated or in crisis? Not really, it just makes you feel more justified, I think, in your right to be angry.