My Attempts at Amity
8Another Friday come and gone, and another week where I pretty much failed my Divergent Challenge!!
Amity is all about friendship, mentoring, being kind and loving. And of all weeks, I desperately wanted to be this. 
I’m leaving on Sunday for NY, so I wanted to spend all sorts of time with the kids. Of course that didn’t happen. I was swamped with work, had dozens of errands to run, last-minute doctor appointments, and I ended up yelling at them more than hugging them.
Which made me feel horrible. Like, want to go sit in a corner and sob horrible. So, the only thing I could do (with Amity in the back of my head) was tell them (at every possible opportunity) how much I love them. How much I’ll miss them. How proud I am of the things they do.
And I apologized for my behavior. Because, as a mentor, I want them to know it’s okay to make mistakes. But, you have to own up to it. Take responsibility. Fix it.
So maybe I’m not such a failure after all.
How did you do?
It’s tough when life gets in the way of sanity. lol. I’m there way too often and kids don’t understand what being busy means. Mom guilt – Amity’s natural enemy.
Definitely owning up to mistakes is a great lesson for kids to learn. It’s hard to stay collected all the time. Very hard.
Seems like it was a very emotional week, and despite all the stresses and such, you exemplified Amity for your kids when it really counted–when you made up for being stressed with them.
My little man pushed my Amity limits as well! The good news for us is that those I-love-yous cover over an awful lot of our mom mistakes. :)
AW! Making sure to recognize your kids and acknowledge your mistakes is huge, and very Amity-like. I’m sorry your week was so hectic!
Ohhh, the darn mom-guilt. I always say I’ll put another quarter in the therapy jar to pay for their therapy down the road. But I do think being humble and honest goes a long way in modeling the kind of – dare I say it – Amity type behavior
My eleven year old pushed limits this past week as well. In my opinion, everyone did, maybe because I was trying so hard to be nicer than I am… it taught me a good lesson, I shouldn’t ever try to be nicer than I am, just more patient.
Our children need to know that we’re human. Part of being human is making mistakes. But when you admit those mistakes, apologize, explain your actions, and show them how to try not to make those same mistakes … well, then you’re a loving and effective parent. Well done!