What Smile Works For You – The “It wasn’t me Mom Smile”

We’ve all had those days. The Lego was left on the hallway floor and you stepped on it on the way to the bathroom. The milk got spilled; the dog got out the front door and ran down the street. And it’s only 7:00am.

We love our children, we really do. It’s harder to hang onto your smile and your patience when we’re stressed out. So what can help us to smile again?

The smile that your son has when he’s sure that he can convince you that it was his little sister’s idea to colour all over your freshly painted walls with permanent marker. Or the smile that your toddler gets when they’ve just pulled the toilet paper off of all of the rolls and they’ve blamed it on the cat.

You can’t help but laugh at the imagination and creativity of your children. You think that you should be disciplining them for their bad behaviour but you just have to smile.

If you can keep the humour in the situation, instead of getting angry you can help them see that, although actions have consequences, you can work together to resolve situations. Even if it’s hard, putting on a smile helps to lighten things up.

Remember, in time this will be funny

When you think about the stories that you laugh at from your childhood you probably forget that they were not funny to your parents at the time. Later on, these are the stories that are told at your wedding.

Go ahead and smile with your children, it’s just what you need.

Embrace all the smiles of your children, even the “It wasn’t Me Mom” smile as they hold the crayon to the wall. Let those make you smile too and be sure to take a picture of that smile (and the mess) to share with your friends.

Remember that brushing, flossing, and regular trips to the dentist will help to keep your children’s smiles bright!