Make love not war

I have not written any advice for a long time.  There are many reasons for this but I really feel that now is the time.  I am sitting at my computer almost in tears because I can hear the hurt in so many people on Minti at the moment and I believe we all need to listen.  Listen to how we speak and listen to others when they do!

In our life we are faced with many situations that are difficult to deal with. In our parenting we face situations every single day that we have to chose how we handle them. Do we smack our kids?  Do we yell at them? What do we do when they do something that we don't think that they should be doing?  These are things that you need to decide for yourselves.  What do I believe is the right thing for my child.  Yes there are boundaries and other people may give you advice but ultimately it is your choice!

We also have other situations where we need to make choices about how we handle ourselves.  When someone is annoying us, what do we do?  When someone says something bad about us, what do we do?  Where we feel insecure or afraid, who do we turn to?

On Minti we are also faced with some of these things.  I believe that we are all here, ultimately, for the benefit of our kids.  Making friends on here is great because it gives us someone to talk to about parenting (and other) issues.  Sometimes people are going to say things that hurt us - sometimes unintentionally.  It is hard to know the heart of what a person is saying when you are reading it and not listening to it and hearing the tone in their voice.

I guess my advice to all is - How would I like to be treated and Am I treating others in a way that I would like them to treat me. Do I just "walk away" from he confrontation?  What would be the best in the situation?   If someone was speaking to your child in the way you speak to others - Would that be ok with you?

Thanks for reading the rantings of a born peacemaker!  Sorry, I can't help myself sometimes!