Today’s prompt for the SITS Girls Back2Blogging is Re-upload a post you wish more people had read and explain why it was important to you. There are a lot of wonderful posts to be read from today’s prompt.
While I was thinking about the posts that I have written that I wished more people had read, I started thinking a lot about the Periodic Fever Syndrome that Ivy has and thought about linking to those posts that describe it, our different attempts at stopping the fever and then writing an update about it. But I decided that those posts were all pretty wordy and would only interest those that have or know someone with frequent fevers.
Then I thought about an early post I wrote after I launched the Family Trifecta in March of this year. My blog was two weeks old and I think only my family has read this post. So I’m reposting it now. I think we tend to forget that even kids have bad days. As adults or parents, we need to help them learn to deal with those bad days the best they can.
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When they have a bad day
Some days are better than other days. As parents we have to be there to help our children rise above it. That isn’t always easy.
The other day, Jade had a gymnastics meet. The day before, she had a rough fall from the beam- rough enough that many of the girls went home and told their mom about Jade’s bad fall. I was worried that the fall would make her a bit more nervous during her meet, so I warned her coach. Her coach had her repeat the trick she fell on multiple times to show Jade that she could do it. I was so proud of her pushing past her fear and getting up and doing it.
She did the best she had done on the floor and performed a wonderful bar routine. It was time for the beam. She had her legs perfectly straight and toes pointed. Her scale was beautiful and everything was going perfectly. She landed solidly on the trick that she was so scared of. Then it was time for her dismount. She started the move the right way and suddenly, her balance was off and she fell backwards- all the way into the judges table. She sadly got up, did her salute and returned to her place in line.
I wanted to run out and hug her so badly. We watched the sweet little girl next to her trying to console our broken-hearted gymnast. There was no chance of cheering her up. The other girls all did their routines, and she stayed with her head down and tears streaming down her face. (Of course, I had treated her with mascara that morning- not water proof).
We blew her kisses and mouthed how proud of her we are. She smiled and waved. She was able to pick herself back up and finished the meet with a strong vault.
As a parent, we can’t always run out and give our children a hug to make them feel better. It is our responsibility to make sure that they gain from us the knowledge that they are wonderful- no matter how bad their day was.
We can help them with this…
- be a good example and not let our bad day affect how we treat them
- hug them as often as possible and reassure them of our love
- point out the great things that they did that day
- help them see how they can sometimes fix the problem
- and sometimes they can’t fix anything at all- but have to be okay with it
- let them cry on our shoulder until they are ready to move on
Plus, there is always tomorrow.
How do you help your child recover from a bad day?
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Twitter: 1momof5
Poor girl! That must have hurt–not only physically but her pride as well. I think you handled it perfectly, and she is going to be so much stronger for the lesson she learned that day.
Twitter: motheringmayhem
I like your tips for helping the kiddos through a bad day. The picture you posted is so sweet. It makes me want to wrap my arm around her. Poor little girl. And I love the look of concern on the other girl’s face.
Amy
Twitter: familytrifecta
Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 10:23 am
thanks. she definitely needed a hug.
I don’t have any advice on that, but it sounds like she is really tenacious and has great resiliency.