On a recent visit, the kids were in the kitchen helping Grandma make pancakes. The from scratch kind. I strolled in to find them all on the floor, working on the kid friendly cooking surface of the dishwasher opened up. And apparently I had just missed what is a common interaction these days - Teagan tried to be in control and tell Zach all the ways he was doing things wrong.
As a mom, this is one of those areas where I want to do better. Handling sibling rivalry as well as helping to guide my leading lady to be an effective, enthusiastic, and encouraging leader.
Good thing Grandma was there to show me the way.
She stopped what they were doing. And she explained that they each have different abilities because of their age. And that she was enjoying this activity they were doing together until Teagan decided to try to show that she was the best, smartest, and so on. She told them that Teagan is going to often be better at things simply because she is older. She told them that Zach has to not act like he can't do things just because he's younger. And in the end - she explained that she is the one with years of experience and wisdom and if they let her be the teacher, they can each do special jobs and have a nice time together.
Brilliant.
The words that stuck with me...
Let me be the teacher.
She was talking to them. But she was really teaching me.
1 comment:
I love this post. Such a simple but profound message.
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