HE deserves every ounce of empathy I can muster. This isn’t all about me and how I’m suffering.
Yes, I am freaking exhausted. Yes, I do hope they come through quickly so I can rest, BUT more importantly, I want them through so HE can rest without this horrible pain. I want him to get back to his cheerful self, without this terribly sore mouth pulling him up short and dampening his day.
HE deserves every ounce of empathy I can muster. This isn’t all about me and how I’m suffering (although sending your sympathy is fine, provided it’s not dissing my baby).
My babies have taught me the importance of seeing the whole.
The saying, ‘your baby isn’t giving you a hard time, they are having a hard time’, has been a real game changer for me.
Sure, I am still often having a hard time along with them but this is not due to some deliberate act of my child. They aren’t malicious and they aren’t manipulative. They are babies being babies and kids being kids. Their babyish or childish nature is not an act against me.
The challenges they face as they grow and develop at a phenomenal rate, would have us desperately tied up in knots even as adults. It is hard on them and they are just as entitled as you or I to voice and show their feelings.
For goodness sake, the last time I had a toothache, I was as cantankerous as an ogre!
If you are finding you are caught up in your own adult struggle with your kids, do the whole family a favour and focus on finding a way to empathise and connect with them as whole people. You’ll all feel better for it. The tough times are so much easier to take when you don’t feel like the helpless victim in it all.
Our perfectly imperfect little people deserve our respect, understanding and empathy.
Originally published HERE. Carly Grubb is the mother of two young boys. She writes for her blog Grubby Mummy and the Grubby Bubbies and has a particular passion for advocating for a gentler path for tired mothers and their babies.
