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Lessons Learned from Children
What Have Your Kids Been Teaching You?
By Amy Dingmann
As parents we try to teach our children about the importance of love and forgiveness, and yet sometimes, it's our children who end up teaching us the most about it.
"One night my husband and I were in a very heated argument," Dean says. "After the fact, I thought it was a total detriment to the girls. A while later my daughter came up to us and asked if we'd been fighting. We answered we had, and braced ourselves for the lecture. She just looked at us, said 'oh,' and walked away."
At times, we are harder on ourselves as parents than our children could ever be. We overanalyze our decisions and inflate our mistakes. Sometimes we can feel like the worst parent in the world. How can we be assured we're doing a good job?
"It makes me feel like I'm doing a good job when I walk in the door and there are two little grinning faces just waiting to be swept off their feet!" Dean says.
As parents, we are always learning. And some of the best learning we do doesn't come from a book, conference or "expert." Our children hold the key to many of the lessons we need to learn.
"I studied many years to practice psychiatry, but parents and their children have taught me more," Dr. Richards says. "If you can learn all that your child has to teach you, then you will deserve a Ph.D."
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