I experienced a real eye opener last night. I was on the phone chatting away when I took a minute to give my son an instruction. "Put it in the bag", I said as I continued with my phone conversation. Just then came this word out of his mouth. The word that all parents have to take a deep breath and consider carefully their response, he said,"why?". Not just any "why" those kind of why's that make you think he is questioning your instruction. I'm usually prepared for those why's, when they come, but this one caught me off guard and I said it. It, I said it, I said "because I said". Now, I was on the phone with a very dear friend of mine who has been practicing positive moral character much longer than I even knew what it meant and she immediately says, "because I said?"Then it hit me like a ton of bricks...Did I just say that? I did, I just said that.

As many times as I have taught that as parents, our responses can make or break the outcome of a situation. With positive responses our children will respond positively to us. I teach it, I practice it, I live it. So why then, what occurred? I didn't think before I spoke, that's what. Or as a wise old woman once said "I chews up my words before I spits em out." I didn't do that.  That was a blunder on my part and I had to fix it. I am his example of what a positive character should be, so I went back to him and fixed it. I explained to him what I should have said, how I should have responded and that makes all the difference.

So you see, we cannot always get so upset when our children slip up and act out of character, because we ourselves slip up sometimes but when we do, just like we expect our children to make it right and try harder next time, we must do the same. Lesson of the day, always stay on guard, chew up your words before you spit them out, and if you err, make it right and try harder next time.