not rush the children

I’ve found myself wanting to hurry them up for no particular reason other than I’m ready to move on, and I’ve done very well over the last couple of days. I need to continue to be mindful of this.

When I first realized what I was doing, I thought I was rushing them because we always had to be somewhere. (Bus stop at 8, daycare at 11:15, basketball at 9, bed at 7:15 so dinner by 5:30, and so on.) On vacation this week, with very little pressure to be anywhere, I’ve still been rushing them. (Does it really matter if the little one has a rest at 12:30 or at 1:00? No.) I took a deliberate step backwards yesterday and actually fell asleep waiting for the little one to wash his hands as it took him over 15 minutes, but it didn’t matter. We’ve got one more day to live this way, and then I need to figure out how to make it work when I’m back to work.

Often, when I say yes to something they want to do, I then hurry them along so we can get whatever it is done. I had this revelation last night when we were working on gingerbread houses and it was creeping closer and closer to bedtime. I didn’t push them until the very end and we had an enjoyable time. The little one and I made brownies today, and I was very careful not to ask him to go faster or let me take over. He’s proud of those brownies!

Of course, this goal does not apply when they’re stalling bedtime or the big one is dawdling instead of getting ready to go out for the bus! :)