Stop Putting Down Your Kids

I read this great article today titled "Stop Putting Down Your Kids" and it made me realize just how much I really need to think before I speak. Most of the time I forget that when I'm talking to my husband or other people, that my kids are old enough now to be listening to everything that I'm saying.

I like to vent sometimes, especially when I've been having a rough time (usually at the end of my husband's 4-day work week stretch...a time when I feel like a "single mom"). I talk about how my children are being such pains in the butts and how frustrated and irritated I am with them. Then I notice how quiet the kids are being and realize that they had been listening to me talk the whole time.

My husband and I usually don't spend much time together when he's working (since he's working night shifts and is sleeping during the day) so when we finally do have some time together, we kind of just let it all out on the table. We don't think anything of it, we just sit there and chit chat.

But some days, the kids will ask us questions about things, things we didn't realize they even knew about (since we never talked to them - at least not directly - about them). Then it's like an A-HA moment, like whoa, they really are listening to everything we're saying.

I feel bad, knowing my kids have sat there listening to me bitch about them. They must think horrible things about me. They must feel like I don't really like them and for that, I've got to really make some changes for the better. I don't want them growing up thinking I think so negatively about them. They are the love of my lives and can't even imagine how much that hurts hearing me "vent". Thanks for this article Mrs. Wood. It has helped remind me just how important it is to be good role models for our children!