One of these things is not like the others....

Do you remember the song from Sesame Street?
The one that goes like this....

"One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell me which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish singing my song?"

Dave gets so dang dark while on vacation.
So do I. But our children for some reason just don't tan easily.
Oh well, I guess that is good for their virgin little skin.

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Looking at this picture I can't help but think of another thought that has stuck with me since visiting the Time Out For Women blog after attending TOFW. It really got me thinking.

"I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in my home. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a mother, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated . . . and a child humanized or de-humanized."
(Haim Ginott,Teacher and Child: A Book for Teachers and Parents [New York: Macmillan, 1972], 15; adapted from the German philosopher Goethe)

I want the 'humor, the healing, the de-escalated and the humanization'.
I don't want to be the 'monster' I become sometimes.
Because when I lose it and start screaming
I most always wish I had reacted differently....
after I have time to calm down.
Sometimes moms are the ones that need the 'time out'.
So we can react differently.
I'm going to work on that.

I know I won't be perfect,
but I do know how I want my children to feel.
And, that will be my goal!