It’s not always easy being a parent. There are so many things to address and we can only hope that we are saying the right things to our children.
I talked to a mom recently whose long-time potty-trained -three -and -a -half-year- old daughter had reverted to having bowel movements in the most creative places around the house.
This poor mom was in disbelief.
True, she realized there was a new baby in the house, but this very “on-top-of-things” mom was making sure her older daughter felt like a “big girl” now. She planned one-on-one girl time with her grandmother, special girl time with Mom when baby napped and every night before bedtime.
So what was going on?
I think, maybe, this little girl wasn’t so sure she was ready to be the big girl.
I think, perhaps this little girl needs to hear less about being the big girl and more how she will always be her mama’s first baby – cherished – no matter how old she gets.
And she may need to hear, “It’s sometimes really hard to share Mama, isn’t it?”
And that’s what I encouraged this mom to do – to grab her daughter in a big hug, several times a day, and tell her ” you are my very first baby and you will always be my very first baby”.
Because that’s the way it really is.
And , maybe – just maybe, that is what she needs to hear.