Everyone talks about how fun grandparenting is — and it is, I highly recommend it — but what they don’t tell you is how you get to relive those super fun parenting moments of your early years when they stay at your house.
Super fun moments like:
-Trying to get them ready to go out and not being able to find the right clothes for them to wear.
-Wanting them to take a bath and all they want to do is play.
- The noise! Oh my. I had forgotten how loud little children can be.
One morning recently, I wanted to take a couple of them on a little breakfast date. A noble task, right? A good grandfather thing to do. Invest in the children and help everyone left at the house get a break.
It took at least 30 minutes to get them dressed. How is this so hard? A shirt, some shorts, socks, and shoes. OK, we don’t even need socks. Just shoes. Ok, maybe not even shoes.
Can you send my frustration building? I don’t even do this every day. Just every once in a while.
But here’s the good news. I recognized my frustration and made a conscious choice. I had chosen to take them on a breakfast date. I took a deep breath and as I did, I saw the situation differently. It helped me to calm down and not turn a good situation into a bad one with a frustrated Pops.
The power of a deep breath. Just taking a few seconds and refocusing my thoughts was super helpful.
It did wonders for me that morning. I calmed down, I had more patience — I was still fighting frustration, but it wasn’t getting the best of me — and the grandkids were having fun instead of hearing me be angry.
Take a deep breath! Refocus and reengage the situation. It did wonders for me that morning.
