I Hope You Dance Encouraging Parenting Moment
First of all, I meant to wrap this up yesterday, but I was too excited about blogging. Or maybe it was that blogging took me too much time. Anyway, the Modern Art photo was indeed a picture of my TV after a day of snow piling up on our satellite dish. The only way to fix this problem is to climb out my youngest son's bedroom window with a long broom and push the snow off, but he was already asleep. Needless to say, I read a book. The winner will be notified, and Starbucks card sent. Thanks for all amazing, funny and creative guesses! They made my week!
Today, I want to share with you a little story. Last week, we attended a Family Dance at the Older kids' school. They plan one almost every year, and we have gone to every one at the request of the children. This year, I asked them and they both said they wanted me to buy tickets. Usually, when we go to these things, there is very little dancing and a whole lot of running around the school gymnasium in a massive game of tag. But this year was a little different.
When we got there, the gym was almost empty. It was one of those super-cold, snowy nights, and I was worried the event would be a disappointment. The kids bought timbits and ice cream and glow sticks, and then we all ended up sitting on a bench. More people arrived as the evening went on, but we were still mostly sitting. We tried to get the children dancing, pulling them all out on the floor, performing YMCA, dancing ourselves. But something was up that I couldn't quite put my finger on. One Older Boy was having a crisis.
Do you ever have one of those moments as a parent where you think "I never, ever would have predicted this parenting moment before I had children."? You knew about the basics, feed, clothe, house. And the emotional part, love, respect, build self-esteem. But this specific moment hit me when I wasn't looking. I had to teach my son that it is okay to dance in front of people.
He was sitting on the bench, looking upset, worried and sad. If he hadn't looked that way, I might not have done anything. I might have thought "He doesn't like to dance. Okay." But when I asked about his mood, I realized he does like to dance, and even wanted to dance, but he was afraid. This broke my heart. It was torturing him that he felt like dancing but was too embarrassed to do it. So, I did what I always do when my children need encouraging, I encouraged. I told him everyone dances differently, that he should dance the way he feels, and that it didn't matter what other people thought.
I really didn't expect much of a change. Usually, my words of encouragement are met with a "Uh huh." along with rolling eyes and no action. But a few minutes later, a song he really likes came on, and he took off. He danced around the floor in giant, energetic circles, to every song for 45 minutes. He didn't want to stop! He was so, so happy! And I was so, so happy, too.
Later, when we were at home, he came up stairs to tell me why he decided to dance. "It was because of what you said, Mommy." Heart full. These are those little parenting moments, that don't happen very often, but that can get you through for a long time. I hope that it will stay with him even longer.
Please share a heart warming parenting moment in the comments.