We have a little running joke in our house, when something goes wrong we say, "It's all Zoey's fault." Since she can't disagree and easily looks guilty she gets blamed often. It helps us make light of life's frustrations, like red lights when we are running late, or a lost library book. And frankly, it is easier to blame the dog than to take responsibility.
I've been thinking about apologies lately. Who I need to forgive. Who do I need to ask for forgiveness (okay I need to start thinking about that one). It only took a few chapters of a book on apologizing for me to realize sometimes I'm a terrible apologizer.
As you can imagine, homeschooling provides A LOT of opportunities for practicing this social skill. When you are around the people who know best how to push your buttons you get them pushed often. Isn't that the very definition of siblings? The more time my boys spend together, the more opportunity to work through conflict...in the midst of history and math and climbing crab apple trees together.
This book on apologizing is stirring up a lot of new thoughts for me, especially in how I teach our sons to give and ask for forgiveness. I ask them questions about apologizing: Why they think it is important? Who are they having a hard time forgiving right now? How does knowing God forgives us help us forgive others? They answer these daily questions in their learning journal, a safe space for them to ponder and process. And I get a deeper look at what's going on inside those mysterious boy-minds.
If only it helped me understand why I found a knife murdering the butter, a display of Mo Willems books on my couch, or why the pictures are now all facing the front door? I'm guessing... it's all Zoey's fault.
Update 9/20/18 - Now that I have finished that book on apologizing I can tell you I agreed with about 80% of it. She isn't writing from the same worldview that I hold but it is good to think on why I disagree. And like any book you need to "chew on the meat and spit out the bones."
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