lessons in the losses

lesson #1: kids are professional mistake makers

as the perfectionist that i am, i can often put unrealistic expectations on my kids. before i became a mom, i always took pride in the fact that my theoretic children would be well groomed, clean, and well behaved ALL of the time. now that my kids are no longer theoretical, i realized all to well that kids were made to make mistakes. and they are not doing it to get back at you or because they are terrible - they are just learning in their own creative way. once i learned to embrace my kids as professional mistake maker and not take it so personally, i was able to actually look forward to those moments as opportunities to train and teach. and now, i even enjoy it... most of the time!