Recently, I’ve come to accept that while I’m still learning a lot from being a mother, sometimes my lessons can come from my widdle bitty baby (who is now technically a toddler….technically anyway)
Like today.
I was mending my pants (I’m cheap like that) and was in a really zen mode. I found it very satisfying, watching the needle pull through 3 threads, go under one and then 3 threads again (what? This isn’t the way to mend clothes, you say?) At one point, work was starting to pile up and people were starting to ping me on the various instant messaging platforms. I knew I had to stop.
Just a few more minutes. Just a few more stitches.
Then it hit me. I needed to prepare myself to stop this task. Just like how I prepared my toddler to stop watching the Ipad (yes, go ahead and judge), I realized that I needed to do the same to transition from a task I was enjoying (to a task that I wasn’t looking forward to).
When my daughter gets told that this would be the last YouTube video she watches before saying night-night to the Ipad instead of gently taking it away from her, she’s more acceptable and her demeanor doesn’t drastically change. Sure, you can tell that she doesn’t want to by her body language (the sudden puppy dog eyes, the slight sniffle, the pout) but this is so different compared to scenarios where I just whisk the tablet away from her; the screaming, the scratching the wailing like it’s the end of the world.
So I tried telling myself the same thing. Okay, it’s time to put down the needle now. It’s been a good 10 minutes and you can always do this again tomorrow. I know it feels good but that’s enough sewing for now. Say goodbye now.
I stopped at the second stitch instead of the third (I have self-diagnosed myself to having slight OCD when it comes to doing tasks in threes) It felt good and I could move on to work.
It’s funny how sometimes our efforts to teach our children bounce back on us.
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