SEVENTEEN** . Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions. *
Well my daughter emailed me one of those chain emails this morning and it had a list of wise advice for life which you are supposed to send to 'x' number of people, in 'x' number of minutes for good luck.
Advice Number 17 was the sentence in red above. This reminded me of the time when I learned a valuable lesson from my then 13 year old. A lesson I have never forgotten.
One day we were getting ready for her soccer practice when on the local TV station they were showing the ad for a movie that was about to be broadcast during the soccer practice time. My daughter wanted to watch it and she asked me if I could record it for her. I said I would, got busy, got a phone call, daughter needed help looking for her cleats and soccer socks and so helped her, got ready, got into the car and drove away, and forgot all about popping a cassette into the VCR and setting the recording time.
On the way back from practice, my daughter happily got back into the car saying 'mom we can go back home and after I take my shower, we can have our lunch and watch the recorded movie together.' It was then that I remembered that I had forgotten to record the movie. I was angry at myself, but of course did not want to admit it was my fault, so instead started saying 'if you had kept the cleats where they were supposed to be kept, i would not have forgotten to record it, ..........' . Basicaly, I was shifting the blame on to her and my daughter was all silent and after a looooooooooong moment said 'mom, aren't you always saying that we have to do what we say we will do- don't you say we have to take responsibility for all of our actions ?' I guess it was a moment of 'Truth from the mouths of babes' . I gave my daughter a big hug, and told her that even mommies sometimes forget these things and that yes, she was right, it was my fault. I took complete responsibility for forgetting to do what I said I would do. I apologized to her.
Since then, I have always taken responsibility for my action or inaction and have tried to practice what I preach.
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3 comments:
Wow!
Yes--its right.We MUST take responsibilty for our actions..and rhe sad fact is many of us go through life putting blame elsewhere (If only i had a better education, if only I had more time, if only I did not have a bad childhood etc etc) the fact is one can change--NOW..Provided one takes responsibility for oneself.Dont you agree?
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT...but most of us dont like to feel guilty and pass the blame on to someone else.. I remember one little quote i read a few weeks back while i was going through some sites: "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react" I dont know why it came across my mind..it just came..
have a nice day..be bac again for more..
Yes, we must take responsibility for our actions.. And children do catch such things so well, don't they? I always apologize to my daughter when I am in the wrong.. and that makes her quite ready to accept responsibility too, I have found.. Great post!
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