When the stress at work got the better of me, I cannot stand for the slightest sloppiness as not only does my patience runs thin very quickly, my inclination to snap at anyone who further contributes to my stress in any way would increase ten-fold. At such a time, kids’ temper tantrums would be the last thing I would want to deal with when I get home; especially so when I am running very late to put them to bed.
That day just happened to be one of those days when I was guilty of all of the above said. It was a terrible day at work and I was under great stress. Not an excuse to blow my top, I know, although I DID try my darnest to keep my cool when Spud tested my patience. Not 5 minutes later, I lost my head. I raised my voice, scolded her and went on quite a mighty rant about the way she behaved right before I ordered her to go bed. Next to me stood Silver Bullet who tried to calm the both of us down while I decided to be the petulant one and stormed out of her room as I felt my rage spiraling out of control.
When my storm passed, I walked back in to her room for our nightly chat ritual as well as to iron things out. I still could feel the left-over anger inside me, and it took all my might not to act on that anger (which may lead to a prolonged scolding by me). As I held her to apologise and get an apology, Spud looked into my eyes and with such innocent face, enunciate the words as clearly and as calmly as could with:
“Mama, when you are angry, you have to calm down…”
Before I could even digest her words, she then quickly blurted out:
“Papa said.”
And she said it with a face expression as if to emphasize on the very fact that it was what Papa has really said.
That kid took me by surprise. It was completely unexpected and she left me speechless that I had a very hard time trying to conjure up excuses or reasons as to why I should still be mad at her. I mean, what was I supposed to do with that?!
She was right, of course. If there was one thing I should do, I needed to calm down. Such were the wise words of my 3.5 year old daughter. Shame on me.
