What My Kids Taught ME About Healing
Everyone says having kids teaches you patience. That's true, but it's the shallow end. My kids taught me about healing — the real, ugly, non-linear kind — and they didn't even know they were teaching.
Lesson one: feelings are meant to move through you, not live in you. Watch a kid have a meltdown. It's volcanic — screaming, tears, the whole production. And then? Ten minutes later they're laughing at a knock-knock joke like nothing happened. They feel it ALL the way through and then they let it GO. Meanwhile I was out here storing every hurt like a emotional hoarder with a full garage.
Lesson two: repair matters more than perfection. I've lost my temper. I've yelled about the shoes. And every time, I've gone back and said “I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that.” You know what my kids learned from that? Not that mom's perfect — that mom's accountable. That grown-ups mess up and fix it. That's the cycle breaking in real time, right in my kitchen.
Lesson three: joy is a discipline. Kids don't wait for the perfect moment to be happy — they find it in a puddle, a cardboard box, a really good chicken nugget. Healing isn't just processing pain. It's relearning how to spot joy in stupid, small, ordinary things. They never forgot. I had to remember.
Lesson four: you can love someone and still need space from them. My kids adore me and ALSO need me to leave the room sometimes. Both true. What a concept.
I became a coach because of what I learned the hard way. But the curriculum? My kids wrote half of it before I even knew I was studying.
What have YOUR kids taught you that no book ever could? I read every single one of these.
Add comment
Comments