Monday, July 5, 2010

Did I do the right thing?

I am not too sure, but here is the story:

Yesterday I fell down the stairs to the basement. I haven't fallen down the stairs since God knows when. I was distracted, holding things in both hands, when I missed a step and took a tumble down the stairs. I landed on my feet, mostly on the left foot, and then, it collapsed. My 3 yr old was not far behind me (thankfully he didn't fall!) and I heard him shout out "Mommy! You falled down the stairs! You ok?" Even though I was almost in tears, I stuffed them back to let him know I was ok. This got me thinking about why I did not want to let him see me cry. I know that I definitely did not want to upset him, but perhaps I should have. I'm still not sure. I guess I thought that if he saw I was hurt it would send him into distress mode too. Another thing that has occurred to me is that maybe our children need to also see our humanity, our emotions. Things are not always alright; we as parents experience happiness as well as sadness, pride as well as regret, triumph as well as pain. How will our children learn that our failures teach us just as much as our successes if we don't let them see ours. Is it a mistake to hide behind a facade of happiness when we really want to let loose our negative emotions? (I'm not in any way referring to violence; I do not condone that in any way shape or form; just outward expressions of feelings.)

Quite a lot of thought provoked by falling down the stairs.

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