"Mummy, stop talking so much bad..."
This was what my 2 year old son said to me last week.
If I was someone inclined to brush off the words of children as meaningless or unimportant then I could easily have laughed it off as just another funny thing my toddler said, and gone on with my day unaffected...but I'm not.
I'm fascinated by the things that children come out with...I always have been but never more so than with my own son.For a child so young the observations he makes on the world around him and the things he has managed to suss out for himself often leave me completely in awe, and I find myself hanging on his every word wondering what he might come out with next. On this occasion, we'd had a bit of a stressful morning as we tried to get ready for a day out with family. We were due to meet some other people for a day at the museum and we were running late (as usual!) - I'd come downstairs and sat next to Tyne on the sofa as he watched TV while we both waited for Jon to finish off getting ready. After a minute or so of impatiently waiting and checking the time on my phone, I'd yelled out to Jon (who was upstairs) to hurry up...he'd shouted back some remark on how long it had taken me to get ready and I shouted back some sarcastic retort or other about how slow he always was whenever we needed to be somewhere... Jon & I have that kind of relationship you see...we're both very sarcastic people and we very often have little sarcastic jabs at each other in moments of stress, neither of us ever holds a grudge and it's just the way we've always been....we bicker a lot but we never actually properly argue or fight. After I'd made that second remark, Tyne turned his attention from the TV to me and frowned at me...and came out with it..."Mummy, stop talking so much bad" I was completely taken aback...Tyne has always been a great talker for his age and certainly in recent months his conversational skills have really developed but this was the first time he'd challenged my behaviour! I asked him what he meant by "talking bad"...his reply was: "You know....just like....naughty things". I feigned surprise and said "Do you think Mummy says naughty things sometimes?" He looked at me with complete seriousness and said "Yes mummy, stop it"...then he flashed a cheeky grin at me and said... "Just be patient". And there, with just a few words, my 2 year old son had sussed out my biggest character flaw...pointed it out to me and for the first time in my life, made me want to address it! It's no secret that overall I'm a pretty negative person! Sarcasm is my go-to response in any situation, I'm very quick to anger, I have next to no patience whatsoever and as much as I'd love to be one of those super-positive people who are always looking for the bright side with their glasses half-full....I'm just not...infact I'm the kind of person who'd quite like to tip those half-full glasses over their annoying super-smiley heads! And to be perfectly honest...this has never really bothered me. I'm used to it...it's just the way I am. But I have always worried about passing on these less-than-desirable attributes to my kids...so to have him point out my negativity before he's even out of nappies was quite a wake up call! It immediately made me realize that he's right...I DO need to stop talking so much bad. And I could definitely do with exercising more patience. So...with my hand forced by my very wise toddler...I'm trying to be a little less negative. It's killing me...but I'm trying! Have you ever found yourself called out on your character flaws by your children so young? How did you handle it?! As always, I'd love to hear from you!
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