Mental Flexibility
I learned something this week and I feel a little foolish that it has taken me so long to apply some of my own advice. While taking both my 2 year old and 9 month old grocery shopping (every mothers idea of fun…), my 2 year old asked to not be in the cart. My first thought was, “No way…I will be chasing him all over the place with the baby in the front carrier, my cart and purse unattended. This will be a disaster!” My second thought was, “We’ve never tried this and he loves being helpful. I need to give him a chance to make this a fun experience instead of a constricting one. Additionally, he may actually tire himself out this way.” I decided to let go of control and went with my second thought. I explained to him he could walk and help mommy so long as he stayed by the cart. He agreed and to my surprise he was amazing. He didn’t grab things off the shelf but would point and say, “What's this, mommy?” I would tell him and he would repeat it and we’d move on. He had fun helping put things in the cart and I enjoyed watching how he felt so big being out of the cart, helping and walking with mommy. Flexibility can be challenging as most of us want to do things that are safe and within our comfort zones but if you dare to step out from the conventional, with a positive outlook, you may surprise yourself and not only have more fun but learn something new. Flexibility is to be adaptable to our environment and still be successful in our goals of living a happy life with our families, not just making it to bed time!
