Parenting Tip - It's your life. Take Charge

 A family I know recently faced a scary situation. They went to their son's T ball game, but then couldn't find him when the game started. They looked and looked, checked both cars, asked people to help, but could not find their young son anywhere. Finally they called the police. The dad went back to his car one last time and looking in, heard a small voice from under the back seat say, “Dad, I don't want to play T ball.”


Have your children ever told you they don't want to do something? Have you, yourself, ever not wanted to do something? I remember one summer when I was in college and had the most boring job in the world. One day during my lunch break I called my mom to complain and say I wish I could just quit. All I was doing was collating a teacher's papers and it was more of an extra job that could be done later during the year by others than something that was critical for me to do. She told me to go ahead and quit if I wanted to. I couldn't believe my ears—I could quit??!! But what about the other times when she wouldn't let me quit—like when I was tired of taking piano lessons or doing homework?

I gladly quit my job.

I learned a lesson that day. Each situation is different, requiring different decisions and solutions. You can't make blanket assumptions and judge others' decisions based on what you did in a similar situation. Sometimes you have to tow the line and learn dependability and integrity. Sometimes you have to streamline your life and find out what is really important in life—dropping out of things that cause more stress than they're worth.

So, did my friends let their son quit T ball?

I don't know. Maybe he needed to learn things from T ball that they felt were valuable. Maybe they decided he was only 6, and T ball was an extra thing that could be dropped to simplify their life.

But one thing I do know. It's okay to say no to stress and yes to simplifying your life. It's okay to say no to things that others think are essentials and yes to having more time to do what makes you happy.

It's your life. Take charge.

Thanks for reading,
Cathy

*******************************************************************************