‘I spent hours in this room yesterday. I walked in today, to this. I could have said a million things. I wanted to, but I didn’t.’: Mom shares important reminder to be mindful of our responses

“I spent hours in this room yesterday.

I put toys away. I put books away. I recycled drawings and wrote the date on the back of ones I thought they’d (and I’d) want to keep. I put random bits of dry play dough in the bin and cut up pieces of paper in the compost. I hung up dress ups. I put the half clothed and rather mangy looking Barbie dolls away.

And I walked in today – to this.

This is standard.

This is a running joke in our house.

We’ve tried pocket money, but they don’t really get it, and I kind of want it all to happen organically and think my storage options are possibly to blame.

But I could have said a million things.

I could have walked in and asked, ‘What the heck?!’

I wanted to.

But I didn’t.

They were so quiet.

‘Wow, I love you. What are you working on?’

They were so excited to see me, to show me. Their faces could have had a different expression, depending on what I’d said.

We’ll work on housekeeping skills later. Play is important. The world can wait.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters  by Zelma of The Postnatal Project. You can follow her journey on  Instagram and her website. Submit your own story here and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.

Read more from Zelma here:

‘They say a lot of things. They say mom should listen. But she doesn’t.’: Mom’s beautiful description of mindful parenting, despite criticism

‘I hate grass stains on trousers. Snotty and mucky faces are so gross!’ My parenting pet peeve is that this thread exists at all.’: Mom shares why parenting pet peeves are unfair

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