Until, one class mate nicely complemented him on wearing the oh, not so cool shirt that truly was unacceptable in the world of 3rd graders. According to this ONE classmate yes ONE classmate. This one classmate did not care for my sons Cookie Monster t-shirt and felt it was his obligation to the rest of the 3rd grade population to inform my son of his opinion. You know the saying it takes 20 positive comments to wash away the 1 negative comment we receive. Well here was the 1 negative comment that made the tough being a kid saying - so true for my son.
That day my 9 year old adorable boy received his one negative comment that took away his excitement, created a feeling of rejection and even made him feel as though he had to wear his jacket the remainder of the day to cover up his shirt. It is tough being a kid.
The negative comment and rejection made for great dinner time conversation with his siblings cheering him on, reminding him of who God made him to be, reminding him that even when someone hurts us we still need to love them, they each shared their own stories, their advice and their encouragement.
These tough being a kid moments are hard to watch our kids go through but we also know these are the moments that grow, challenge and build character into our children and in the end they will survive. Maybe with a few battle wounds but that is where we come in as a family too be the safe place they come home to for encouragement, security and love.
Has your child had a tough to be a kid moment this week?
I loved this post! What a great picture of God's design for family - the encouragement and uplifting to spur each other on toward love and good deeds. A smaller picture of what the church family does as well! :-) Teaching our kids forgiveness and praying for 'enemies' is the best thing we can do. We recently went through something with our 2-year-old - he got bit by another kid in the nursery! But we pray for that little boy every day and we encourage our buddy to forgive him and show him Christ's love. You are a great mom, Trisha. You should be so proud of your family! God is doing some wonderful things in your Happy Home. Thanks for sharing this.
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We really try to teach our kids that if they like something it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Especially with clothes we have been very open minded (as long as it is in the dress code) and I've always encouraged my 3 and 5 year old to wear what they like.
ReplyDeleteI dread the day that my kids feelings are hurt or they are discouraged by one or two negative comments. But, I am sure it is only a matter of time.
I find it interesting that it takes 20 positive comments to wash away 1 negative comment. Great post! And I hope your buddy is back to loving cookie Monster- t-shirt and all!