Today was like any other day, our son walked into our room after waking and announced, “school is closed right now! “It is a familiar greeting that we get every single morning. Seriously. Every. Single. Morning.
We’ve gotten used to this as parents. We’ve heard it multiple times throughout every morning. This first started at the end of the school year last year. We stopped hearing it over summer and now the school has resumed, and it has restarted. I have noticed that my son is now biting his nails, something he would not typically do. I observe the small details as they tell me much of what’s going on, like other children, he is sometimes not able to fully communicate everything that is on his mind.
This morning I felt urged to do something about it. It was time to address the underlying issue and I felt he was ready for it. As we were in the car driving to school before I turned the radio on, I said to my son, “You know, you’re not being kind to you. Every day you wake up telling yourself school is closed, you begin the day with frustration. That is just not being kind to you. I know school isn’t always fun and I sometimes didn’t like school or didn’t want to go to school myself. I get that. But you waking up in the morning and telling yourself that school is closed EVERY morning is stressing you out. And that doesn’t help you. It’s OK to feel that way. But start waking up in the morning and think of something in the day that you get to look forward to at school. Like, “I get to see Sami! (A cute as a button girl in his class) You like Sami right? She’s cute, and you like seeing her?” He smiled and it broadens as he thought of seeing her. “OK! You start the day saying I get to see Sammy today because school is open! You love music. On the days you have music tell yourself, I get to go to music today because school is open!” Then I said, “You get to choose how are you look at things. You are in control of that. That is your POWER. Don’t let anyone take your power away. Use your power to make the day that you want. If you start the day looking forward to one thing that you want to happen, you create possibilities of making that happen. And then you are open to seeing other possibilities and wonderful things. You become creative and make things happen! That is how you make MAGIC! You can do it!”
Here’s what I want everyone to know: it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day. It is easy to find the minutiae in everything. It is up to us to PRACTICE finding the JOY in each and every day until it doesn’t become WORK and it is just a part of US. When that happens everyone around you benefits! At first it feels like walking through a tunnel with just a glimmer of light at the end. However, with practice, you are through the tunnel and you are embraced by the light.
Remember, kindness begins with you.
