Silly Goose Stories

 

Welcome back to Raising You! Today I am introducing a new concept, which will be a reoccurring segment for this blog, and I cannot wait to share!

But first, here is another parenting blog I recommend to all of you, A Mum to Mum. Another great resource for family life advice, crafts/fun ideas to do with your kiddos, and even kid-friendly recipes. Enjoy!

Now, let’s jump back to that concept I mentioned earlier. Starting with a simple question, ‘Have you officially let yourself laugh at yourself?’.

Right? Simple?

Where am I going with this? No, really because it seems silly right?

See, that’s exactly where I am going with this. Being silly.

Allowing yourself to laugh at yourself whether it be because you said something silly or made a mistake, regardless, it’s a sign of maturity. It can help give you some grace as well, especially during the chaos of parenthood.

 

  Image credit: Forbes Tumblr

Which leads me to the name of this new reoccurring segment, ‘Silly Goose Stories’. Silly Goose because c’mon we all have a silly side. And it’s fun! But in all seriousness, this is a chance for me to be vulnerable and share some of my silly stories. Situations where I had to learn how to laugh so that I would not be so hard on myself and just try better next time.

“Eventually, we all learn that nobody is really looking at us, even if we think they are,” writes Positive Thanks Living, “None of us are that important or famous that we shouldn’t be able to see our faults or mistakes and laugh along with others. No one is perfect. Not even us!”. 

Whether you are a parent or not, it can be hard to learn how to laugh at yourself. None of us want to look silly or ridiculous. We want to be taken seriously and respected. However, we are also human which means we have humility. We are all capable of laughing at ourselves we just have teach ourselves and practice more often.

Now…for my story time…

Everyone loves a good story time, especially a silly one. This story took place back in December, I should preface, to defend myself, it had been a long week. What I mean by that is the mental and physical exhaustion from going to school/studying, taking care of a toddler, and making sure I’ve eaten and slept enough, had really, really worn on me. It was morning and as usual I made my daughter breakfast; she wanted toast that morning. However, this is no ordinary toast, it is in fact a specialty aka “special toast”. I sometimes add cinnamon sugar to the toast after I’ve buttered it to make it ‘special’ for her.

(Side note: this is a fun little tip for getting kiddos to try/eat more foods. Sometimes just adding one more ingredient and deeming the plate now “special” to your child can help to make the whole eating food thing more exciting for them and you!)

Okay, back to the story…Unfortunately that morning I was not paying attention when reaching into the cabinet for my cinnamon sugar. Instead, I grabbed something much, much worse. Without a thought, I had poured garlic powder all over her toast. Surprisingly, it took a second, but thank goodness I smelled it. Because I was only a few short moments from walking out of the kitchen to go give it to her. She would’ve had a mouth full of garlic toast. For breakfast.

                                                                   A photo for proof.

Image credit: Hannah Hill

For a split second, I did feel a wave of frustration. ‘How could I do that?’ and ‘How could I be so careless? Now I’m going to have to throw the toast away and start over, and breads not cheap??’.

And yet, thinking about how silly it was that I made garlic toast, essentially. Also, imagining the instant reaction my daughter would’ve had upon eating it, made me instantly burst into giggles. After that I sighed and realized, ‘It sucks, yeah, I have to waste this, but at least I didn’t give it to her, I just made a silly.”.

It may not always work, but reframing my mind set in that situation to, ‘oh no I made a silly, at least no one was hurt’ and then having the grace to even laugh at myself, helped, tremendously. We all make mistakes and do silly little things. Parents, toddlers, students, adults, and d. all the above. Mistakes lead to learning experiences and growth.

Me reaching for the garlic powder was a mistake, most likely because of my lack of sleep and I have ‘mom brain’, pretty much scatter brain but very frequently. That doesn’t mean I’m a bad mom or a bad person. When I began my parenthood journey a situation like that would’ve made me cry, in all honesty. I would’ve felt like a failure. That obviously isn’t true and what I noticed is over time I made more sillies like that. Some bigger, some smaller. Then over time I learned to let myself laugh at myself and the situation. Once I allowed myself to do that, I was able to work on reframing the mindset and it helped me to start talking nicer to myself as a mom. Which has helped my confidence, and my hope is that it helps you too.

Here’s a link for more memorable and funny parenting stories from TODAY’s Parents LOL column.

For next time when you have a silly situation like that, I hope you give yourself that space to laugh at yourself and be gentle with you. It is all a part of the growing up process, you’re maturing. And again, you are not just raising them, but you are raising you too.