Morning Chat

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:5-6

 

You know what a lot of us mom's have in common? We all think our children are brilliant (because they are). And we think they're gifted (because they are). And we think they're the funniest, and most amazing, and adorable, and all things in between.

 

Yesterday, when I picked Kathryn up from school her teacher informed me that Kathryn was rather "distracted" throughout the day and her teacher had to repeatedly redirect her and get her to listen and pay attention. Wait. My Kathryn? That can't be right. My Kathryn would never be the child called out in class. Right? Wrong.

 

Right after school, we already had scheduled for friends to come over to play and it was one of those visits where the kids are playing and your child is absolutely doing everything she knows NOT to do. Horrendous behavior. It was bad. Very bad.

 

Of course Kathryn and I (and she and her Daddy) talked about her behavior and addressed her school day and how things were when her friends were over.

To wrap it all up in a nice little bow, yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when considering Kathryn's behavior. But in spite of that, I got to rest in the words of Psalm 13:5-6 and I fell asleep to "for he has been good to me..."

 

This morning, Kathryn woke up before I finished having my quiet time and came downstairs. This happens about half the time because 1. She is an early riser 2. I am not. So we had some time just the two of us to chat and snuggle on the couch for a few minutes before the rush of the morning kicked in. I didn't want to bring her behavior from yesterday into today, but I did want to address how her approach today would be. We talked how we would work on making today better and what that meant for being at school and what that meant for being at home

 

Today at school was much better for her. Her behavior at home was much better also. I asked her later this afternoon what the difference was and she literally floored me with her response. She said, "Talking this morning about today."

I can't stop thinking about those words.

It makes perfect sense. How many families, including mine, wake up to the busyness of the world and GO. Sure we talk about what we have going on during the day but do we talk about how we're going to handle certain situations or talk through our expectations or what we may struggle with or how we should approach our day? Do we talk about the details of living before we rush out the door?

I thought of myself and how much I crave and treasure my quiet time in the mornings and how "off" my day is if I sleep through it or push it off until the end of the day. My days are infinitely better if I start it off with my quiet time and the main reason why? Because "talking this morning about today" with God sets the pace to my day.

It never occurred to me the impact it would also have on a child to take  make time to chat about the details of their day.