As I was getting Gracie ready for bed the other night, she asked me, "So, mom. How's your work?" This is not an unusual question for her to ask. She asks Cori about his work regularly. The missionaries got a kick when she asked them about 'the work'. It was the first time she had posed the question to me. But I was curious as to her perception of what my work is.
"My work is great. What do you think mommy does for work?"
Without missing a beat her response was, "Wash my feet, and play golf with daddy."
This was really funny to me at first. Surely, this couldn't be what she thinks I do all the time. Was this some little window into her young psyche? Should I be happy that this is how she perceives me?
I think I'd be pretty okay with the answers to either of those questions. Maybe she sees my sole purpose in life as being to serve her. This is fractionally true. I hope she can feel that. And that she sees part of my job as being happy with Cori makes me very happy. I would love for all her memories and impressions of her parents to be so positive.
Of course, her response could have been an indication that she feels creatively squelched by my love for routine and cleanliness. But she's a bit more obsessed with her routines than I am. Or it could be her impression that I feel a part of a mom's job is to leave her children with babysitters to go play away from the house... But she likes to call her babysitters on her pretend phone and will ask me to leave the room so she can speak with them privately. I get the feeling that she doesn't mind my occasional absence.
It is no revelation that kids are highly impressionable. As I have thought about this little dialogue that truth has stayed at the front of my mind. I recently read that 3 is the new 2 and I can believe it. I handle it pretty well throughout the day. But around bedtime it often happens that my patience with her runs razor thin. It has really helped me to realize how much my actions and interactions get noticed by my little girl. The things I do and say are shaping how she sees herself and her environment. I hope that I can ask Grace this question again in 5 or 10 or 15 years and get a similar answer.
2 comments:
I love her answer! It's always so funny to me how kids view our lives as mothers.
You seem to have a very balanced life, according to Grace - I think everyone would benefit from a little more time spent serving others and playing golf with their spouse.
LOL! How often do you wash her feet?
I agree 100% on the impressionable observation and how much it shapes how I behave. It can be exhausting at times, but I often enjoy being "held accountable" in a way for everything I do. It makes me intensely motivated to only be how I want my Little Man to be. And it never ceases to amaze me how he only has to see me do something once and he's immediately trying it!
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