The Best of the Good
I'm pretty sure I've written about it before, but with over seven years worth of posts, it's not all that surprising that I can't find it. There's this thing I torture Alexis with every single day. I've done it for as long as she could talk.
"Tell me about your day," I say. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
I've changed the phrasing of the question over the years, but the intent is always the same. Tell me how your day went, and give me details. "Fine" is not an acceptable answer. Ever.
Alexis knows it's not. For now, she's not fighting me on the issue. I have a whole line of questioning I'm willing to resort when she tries, but she rarely does. She happily gives me a few highlights and lowlights about her day. In fact, she's so used to the questions that she usually answers the second one before I even say it.
The second question, if she doesn't give me enough information after the first, is "What was your favorite part of today?" I also ask what she didn't like, but we start with the good because I think it's a gift to be able to stop and ponder what was good about each and every day.
Hopefully that skill will serve her well over the years.
Earlier I was thinking that I really should practice what I preach. I should do a better job of stopping at some point, pondering my day, and deciding what was good about it. I'm not terrible about picking through a bad day and identifying the things that made it all better, but there's always room for improvement.
But then I realized something.
As I asked Alexis about her day today, she started with a story about gym class. There was some bad and some good about the game they played today, but the way she told the story? That. THAT right there was the best part of my day.
The way she answers that question is pretty much always the best part of every day. Ain't no shame in that, so I plan to embrace that as my daily answer.
Oh, by the way, she started her story about gym class by saying, "Well, me and my crew ..."
You guys, she has "a crew."
Awesome.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Reader Comments (4)
I ask my kids the same thing - even at high school freshman and 7th grade. And, there must be details. Sometimes that is how I get to the heart of any problem they are having.
Also, love that Alexis has "a crew". Totally AWESOME!
all of this makes my heart crazy happy. all of it. especially that alexis has a crew. because i adore my crew. :)
My kids call their group of friends their "gang" and I love it so much and then I was asking my youngest about having, who I thought was a good friend over and he said to me, "Nah, he's more of a background friend now." What? But still cute!
Her "crew". That's awesome.
I do something similar with my daughter, but only with school. She doesn't always answer right away, but she's learned that I will remember to come back to it later.
My favorite part is when I ask her the worst part of her day, and she says "Nothing!". Those are the best :)