My Part

Still haven't sat down with my son to "talk" yet; he's been doing tons of homework. But he says he will--"it's inevitable." So I haven't been naggy with him--just friendly & open.

Lately, I've tried to be mindful in my relationships of the words I say & how I treat people. After all, we should treat people the way we want to be treated, not how they're treating us. That means speaking kindly, respecting their personhood, etc. Yesterday, my husband said that he would to wake up later the next day because he was working in town. I said, "Well, as long as you don't get in our way..." & he immediately took the defensive ("oh, so now I'm in your way?"). But that made me think: I chose the wrong words! I wanted to convey that I'd be needing to shower between 6-6:30am, in order to get the critical tasks out of the way before I brought the kids to school.

The point is that I need to think before I speak, or at least consider my words. Not that I should walk on eggshells, but I know that sometimes I can sound hard. I think it's all part of acheiving a healthy "baseline" for my part of my relationships.