Cooperation or Cheerfulness?
Our plan or their happiness? Which?
We can’t expect our kids to both cooperate and always be happy about it. That’s a tall order.
If we want cooperation with our agenda, and it’s an agenda our kids don’t want, the decent thing to do is to tolerate their poor reaction or sour mood or sulking.
Hold Space
We have to choose wisely: cooperation or cheerfulness. We don’t always get both. That’s okay! We’re the grownups. We can handle a little moodiness from our kids when they don’t yet see the bigger picture that we do. That’s part of being an adult—holding space for our kids’ big emotions.
It also matters to think about how much we’re asking of them. Sometimes letting go of our agenda is the compassionate and right thing to do.
So go forth and give some space to a child who isn’t yet on board with the plan. Make comments like:
“It’s hard to keep walking in the heat, isn’t it?”
Sometimes, once you notice, they feel freer to get over it too.
This post was originally shared on Instagram.
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