Taking time to Walk in My Childrens shoe's

This week  I was reading an article and it got me thinking......I wondered how well do I understand my children and how they feel.... Have I tried walking in their shoes? Its easy to look at master 6 and say why cant that kid calm down? Why doesn't he think

before he attacks? Doesn't he get what will happen if he keeps hurting himself? The sad fact is I don't really understand my children, especially my son, as well as I could.

So I began to think back to when I was a kid.......I wanted to get back to that mindset..... I remember that everything seemed so big and so overwhelming at times... I recalled an overnight stay to a town and thinking it was days away and now as an adult I can see it was just 30 minutes by car.... Christmas never came soon enough and birthdays went by too quick....... I recall times spent walking along the beach with my mum, I recall how only she could kiss away my tears..... I would jump in puddles, and play under the sprinkler for hours....... A donut out was the highlight for the week.  Where did those long summer days go?

There were so many Instances back then that made me who I am today.... Situations that influence my life and relationships even now.... My mum would tell me she loved me even after I had just disappointed her with a unkind thought or action. She spent quality time with my brother and I ...She was there when we came home and she tucked us in at night..... She talked to us like we mattered.........

There was , of course, stuff that happened when I was younger that hurt (even now) but the good outweighs the bad and so its the good that I recall more... I want my kids to have that same opportunity ... I want them to remember the experiences that were good... I want them to recall things I said or did that made them  feel loved and cared for......And I need to remember that My children don't think the way I do .... they are kids after all.. Are there things you wish your Mum or Dad had said to you back then? Have you said that to your own children? Do you tell them you are proud of them? Do you know what makes them hurt?

It is time for me to walk in the shoes of my children for a while..... I want to look at life from their perspective. I want to "see" with their eyes..... I want to understand why my 6yr old wants to fly away with the birds....... I want to get his frustration and not judge or feel angry because of it......I still feel scared sometimes in this world of ours and I am 5'8 so how much more scary is it to my little girl who is only just over a metre tall or my 6 yr old who is only 1.3? What does my son see when he is surrounded by us adult giants all walking fast and talking loud? What is it like to not have the words to say when you hurt or are angry or the maturity to  know how to act?

So today I am making a conscious effort to walk in the shoes of my children, I want to listen to them more (Its all about respecting them) and I want to understand that they have the right to think and feel about things in their own way (and not mine)

Have you walked in  your children's shoes lately?