Thought Work

There’s a slight aversion to bedtime around here so maybe you can imagine my thought process when a child recently reminded me that he needed to create a poster for his student council campaign to present the next day. It was well past an already late bedtime. I had already given my ‘Thirty minutes after bedtime is not the time to remember these kinds of things and you’ll just have to get up early to do it in the morning’ speech. But something told me that with this particular child it would be better for him to do the poster that night. But he was supposed to be in bed. He was supposed to remember these things before bedtime. He was supposed to be on top of this. But was he really?? So I relinquished my thought and told him to take the poster and markers to bed and to make it snappy. Within no time at all, he came back with a well designed poster showcasing his artistic talent. I would venture to say that had the poster waited til the morning it would have been a totally different outcome. ‘Supposed to’ is a tricky little phrase that can sometimes influence our parenting decisions. If you find it sneaking into your vocabulary take a minute to challenge it and see what happens. Maybe you’ll stick with your initial thought. Maybe you’ll try on a new thought. Either way, it’s ok to challenge the ‘supposed to’ thoughts in our lives.