Listening to Mother-in-Law

I was scanning news on the net as I do everyday (OK, several times a day), and found this quote by Pope Benedict that said, it is important to, "...see the funny side of life."

Starting when my children were born, one of the many advices I was given from my mother-in-law was to find humor in raising her grandchildren. To find humor in raising children isn't always easy to do, case in point, when my then 3-year-old unbeknownst to me, dragged in the garden hose to water the house plants, but was unable to turn off the hose and let the water run, and run, and run. Until my living room carpet was afloat in several inches of water. By the way, running water on carpet doesn't make a loud sound; a newborn however does, and as I was attending to the baby, the fact that my living room was turning into a lake, did skip my attention.

When I walked into the room and saw the carpet soaked, ironically my 3-year-old was nowhere to be found. Could he have been the culprit? I called him into the house (I don't know for sure, but I think he was frantically trying to figure out how to turn the faucet off - in a hurry). When he looked at me with those innocent/guilty eyes, I took a deep breath, and his grandmother's wisdom came to mind, "...find the humor."

I knew at that moment, that moment when parents face a choice to yell and scream at their child, or yes, somehow find the humor, I chose the latter. Plus, as a bonus, the ruined carpet went and in came beautiful new hardwood floors.

So the next time you're faced with a situation dealing with your kids, or life, take a deep breath and as the Pope said, "...see the funny side of life."



Read more of Catherine Burr, at www.catherineburr.com