Saturday, April 9, 2016

Thicker Skin

This past Friday when I went to pick up my daughter from school, I was standing with a mother whose child has been in the same class as Raphaela for the last few years.  When the girls came out, I gave Raphaela a hug and then a quick hug also to her friend.

"I love these girls," I said to the mother, "especially the ones I have known since they were little."

Raphaela's friend interjected, "That's right, when Raphaela started in nursery and she didn't have any friends, I played with her anyway."

In the past, I have been accused of being too sensitive or quick to get my feelings hurt.  Living in Israel has given me a thicker skin.  Being a Mom has given me a whole new set of life lessons in coping.

So instead of taking this very honest little girl personally, I processed in my head:  "I am not a bad mother," I assured myself. "Raphaela did have social anxiety issues when she was younger.  We have moved beyond that now. Yay!"

Once I finished my internal dialogue, I turned to Raphaela's friend and said, "But we're bigger now, right? And now we are past that whole shyness thing, right?"

Both girls nodded their heads enthusiastically, and we all walked home together.

2 comments:

Batya said...

We all grow up with our kids.
My kids are now older than I am...

koshergourmetmart said...

Good response to her. However, you need to remember that this little girl is staring a fact not talking about you or anything about you. she said ""When Raphaela started in nursery and she didn't have any friends, I played with her anyway." Yes, when Raphaela started nursery she did not have friends in the class. She was new to the class.