Our Kids Learn From Our WORDS and ACTION

I remember the first time my son repeated a sarcastic phrase of mine.

He was 2 or 3 and I was shocked.

I couldn't believe it.

The thing he repeated was something I said weeks earlier, but it just bounced around his head that whole time.

During waking hours, during sleep, he was thinking about me.

He was absorbing my words and actions.

That moment dramatically changed the way I talked.

Why?

Because it repulsed me.

It made me wince hearing it.

He used my tone, my inflection, the same words.

I started writing down words and phrases I commonly used that I wanted to eliminate and what I wanted to replace them with.

Any negative connotations were replaced with positive spins.

Same situation, different perspective.

When I corrected them I made sure not to tear down them as a person or use language I didn't want them to repeat.

And these are words he was repeating....

Just imagine how many ACTIONS he was absorbing.

My emotional state, my discipline, my joy or depression.

Having kids puts the mirror right back on us and forces us to accept the reflection or change it while there is still time.

We change it by changing ourselves.