Positively Wonderful!

This last week I have had the amazing opportunity to parent two of the cutest little boys you could ever see; my nephews James and Henry.  My nephews are both still toddlers, so life was a little crazy sometimes and absolutely adorable almost all the time. 

For instance, three year old Henry felt that it was important to share all of his profound thoughts with me like, “Did you know that if I threw this basketball at your wall, or your window, or your light it would break?  But if I threw the ball at your couch it wouldn’t break.  But, if I got a really big ball, it could break your couch.  I probably shouldn’t break the couch huh?”  Does it get better than this?  I don’t think so.

I took all the little children to the store one day and the clerk commented on all my little children.  I told the clerk I was babysitting my nephews for the week.  The clerk answered, “Wow, that must be tiring.  I bet you are really worn out.  Do you count the minutes until bed time?” 

In case you are used to comments like this I better spell it out; this is pessimism, or a negative attitude.  If I agreed to his statements, I would have made my life horrible that day and maybe for the rest of the wonderful week.  I would have told myself that life was bad that week and that I couldn’t be happy unless I was away from those beautiful children.  We really have that much power over how we feel, so don’t get sucked into negative conversations like these.  Choose to enjoy every crazy, energetic moment with your children.  Choose to be the best parent in the world every day.  Mediocre parenting isn’t anything great. 

I looked at the young clerk and said, “I love spending time with my nephews!  We have so much fun.  Toddlers carry sunshine with them where ever they go, and I can’t wait to be part of it every day.  Life gets a little crazy, but it is definitely the good kind of crazy.” 

I had a positively wonderful day, because I chose to!  Self talk is an amazing tool to help us parents govern our own emotions.