“How are you not upset right now? I just shot an arrow through your window.”
“Well, I am the one who said it was ok to shoot the bow in the garage. Besides, it’s a cheap window anyways.”
Yeah, I surprised myself with how calm I was.
Later that night, I was reflecting on how calm I was in the moment. Was it because it was a friend of my kid, or was it something else?
I think it might have been a combination of both.
Of course, I didn’t want to freak out on someone else’s kid but as I stated earlier this was mostly my fault.
But was there a way that I could replicate this calm response again?
1) Plan for things to go wrong. I knew a broken window was a possibility so wasn’t surprised when it happened. Frustration usually seems to occur when we are caught off guard meaning our perfect plan didn’t work so we get upset. Being in the mind frame that something could go wrong I was already prepped to deal with the problem should it occur.
2) It was an accident so give grace. The kid didn’t purposely break the window. Accidents happen so respond accordingly.
Honestly, this seems like great advice for life in general.
Be flexible understanding life rarely goes as planned so learn to adjust in the moment. Extend grace where it is needed because we all make mistakes.