Health & Fitness
When Did I Start Sounding Like My Mother?
Parenting is tough. In times of stress, we use the words and practices that our parents used. Some of them are good, and some of them are not so good. How do we break the chain?
How did she do that? I was horrified when I heard words come out of my mouth, words that my mother had said...words that I swore I would never say to my children. Where did this come from???? How had she invaded my head? Was she a secret ventriloquist and could throw her voice all the way from rural Lockport to Naperville?
As we look back, we all can see things our parents did that we would like to do differently, and hopefully better. But in the heat of the moment, we revert to what is familiar, even the not so good things. We say or do things that we regret later.
How do we break that cycle? I found that if I knew it was a problem for me in the past, I had to script in my mind what I would say or do differently in the future, plan for it. It didn’t work the first couple of times, but I am persistent and have been able to make some major changes in my approach to my children, my husband, and others around me. Instead of being critical and damaging, I have worked hard to be uplifting and encouraging. If I can do this so can anyone else.
