Ouch!

Speaking sharply, that’s what my favorite real writer / blogger calls it when she uses a frustrated, impatient, obviously sharp tone with her children. This always gives me pause and I think about my own sharp tongue.

This morning I was more shrieking than speaking sharply and it’s been eating at me all day. I can be such a hot head with the people I love the most. Oh, how I berate myself for this… this stubborn, lazy unwillingness to take a few moments to gather myself instead of going form zero to angry in .2 seconds. This morning I got what could only be described as irrationally mad at Isaac for sucking on Libby’s tube of fluoride-free toothpaste like it was candy… again. Yep, that’s the kind of thing that will do it – set me off, anything involving baby teeth.

Anyway, after I tarnished our morning we went ahead with a trip to the zoo with our free passes. Isaac and Libby disappeared with about a zillion other kids into a cave in the tropics exhibit when Isaac came to tell me some kid was not being very nice to Libby – pulling on her ankles and pinching her cheeks between his fingers. Isaac’s face was full of concern and he knew without a doubt that this was unacceptable. I immediately flashed back to earlier, pretty sure in my toothpaste induced anger I may have pinched his cheeks in the same unacceptable way.

I assured Isaac that he had done the right thing telling this cave bully to stop and asked him to go back in and get Libby because sometimes you just have to walk away. I was proud and humbled by his instinct to see an injustice and stick up for his sister. And I got the message loud and clear, the universe was telling me, the hypocrite, to wield my power with great care and speak a little more gently when the situation hardly calls for the razor tongue.