There were highlights and low lights today. Both involved learning. Some learning came easy and some came the hard way, where you wish for a rewind button or a do-over!

Let’s just say the morning was rough. I learned what didn’t work trying to get everyone out of the house. There was lots of whining and delay tactics and missing items and complaints strewn everywhere. There was yelling and stress (mostly from me!) and snow to slow us down. And by the time we dropped the kids off, no one was happy and that’s no way to start a day. D you ever have days like this??

I felt sad afterwards, and later decided that just as we won’t go to bed mad, we won’t start the day off mad either. From now on if things aren’t going right, we’ll wait until after school or work to resolve whatever the daily issue is, so that we can better enjoy the day.

So when I picked the kids up from school, I apologized for how the day began and explained why I was frustrated and sad and explained what needed to change. They all agreed, surprisingly. No one likes to stay mad and we usually resolve conflict pretty quickly, thank goodness! What I learned, was that I (still) need to micromanage the details of the morning routine (which I hate), and be a better facilitator. Kids might know what they need to do, but actually doing it in a timely fashion is another story. I practiced my parenting skills by facilitating and guiding and managing expectations for the evening routine, and guess what??? It was such a peaceful night and the house is clean and organized, homework was reviewed and completed, and there was time for reading and play! Why do I forget and want to check out? I think it’s because its exhausting telling people what to do and how to do it and to repeat yourself, but it works! Lets just hope it lasts!

Phew! Now that that lesson is over, the more fun part of my day was going to Dutch class today with my friends and husband! I don’t think we’ve ever taken a class together, except for Lamaze class but that doesn’t really count! It was so much fun learning and practicing together and taking a break to get coffee. Our teacher is really good and the conversational style of learning flys by so quickly! The class is three hours long but when she says its time to go, I don’t even feel like its been that long and I want to keep on going! I hope the feeling lasts!! I really want to learn Dutch and practice every day, especially now that I have this really cute Dutch partner!