Greetings to all~

This advice not only applies to children but to ourselves as well.  We ALL make mistakes.  It is a trueism and inevitable.

Now, if you are a perfectionist like me, that can get you into a whole lot of trouble.  For one thing, we

can never live up to the high standards that we put upon ourselves.  Thus for us as parents to expect the same of our children, is doomed to fail.  To say that we will never do that again is totaly unachieveable.  We learn by our mistakes.  Our children learn my their mistakes too. 

In retrospect, I know now that I at many times expected things of my children they just could not deliver.  You first have to look at the age of the child and the abilities of your child, as you know them better than anyone else and know just what they are and aren't capable of.

Communication is the key to ANY relationship.  We so often react by shutting down and when that happens, then confusion is born.  We all need to know what is expected of us and if a mistake is made, address it as immediately as possible.  Talk about it.  If communication  brakes down, then we are all left in a shambles, no one knowing what to do or not to do.  How to react or not to react.

Out of mistakes comes GROWTH.  They are lifes learning situations that we are constantly learning throughout our lives.  As we learn from our mistakes, we grow in character as we grow in age.

Love your kids for who they are and know that they are not perfect and they will make mistakes.  But communicate that you still love them, take it as a learning situation and part of the growth process and move on.