Fishy kisses save the day!

Sometimes my attitude stinks. I want to stomp around with a scowl and a grumble, that's just the mood I might have at the time. And when that occurs it can be really hard to pull out of it. I mean, sometimes the people around me have earned my cranky ways! There's a spill on the table, on the chair and finally makes its messy way to my floor, all of which is only discovered by my warm fuzzy socks that I must toss in the GIANT pile of laundry that no one volunteers to wash or put away. And then the whining. UGH! The whining! Of course, the little ones want to find entertainment with the MP3 player and the leftover breakfast cereal still on the table. FYI, MP3 players do not float in milk! Oh, and of course the dog has helped himself to something from the trash bag waiting to be taken out. And by doing so not only is there slimy trash on the kitchen floor the baby is playing in, but two feet away I see what the dog chose to eat out of the trash because he has thrown it back up on the floor. So, I tell myself, "Let it out girl...be cranky! That'll teach 'em!"

Hmmmm, not sure I'm getting the point across that I want them to learn. When I let out my frustrations, I'm sending the message that being hateful and grouchy is the way to treat others when they are being.....who they are. Let's look at this day in another way. Someone left their cup on the kids table in the kitchen (which is not suppose to happen because it can get spilt, but sometimes we all can do things like leaving our cups in places where we aren't suppose to) and as the kids were getting their jackets on quickly because it was almost time for the bus, they bump the table and headed off to school not even knowing that a cup was spilt. A two year old and a one year old are naturally curious. If I'm looking at a bowl with milk and floating cereal I might have the urge to toss something in with it. And with the crazy schedule that we sometimes get tied up with at our house, sometimes the full bag of trash gets forgotten about at bedtime and must be taken out in the morning.

I would LOVE to always be able to stop and evaluate days like the one I described and rationally go through it instead of emotionally going through it. But, hey....that's life and sometimes I just can't do it. We experience it, we feel it and sometimes we get frustrated. So on that day I was cranky and really feeling grouchy. As I slumped down in my comfy couch chair I could hear the little feet racing through the house to find me. "Maaaaaaaama!" I hear Mataya yell. Ugh.....I just need a little break. She turned the corner and ran into the living room with a giant smile on her face  and said to her mommy with the bad attitude, "Look! I can do fishy kisses. You need fishy kisses!" She then proceeded to pucker up like a fish, giggling the whole time, laid a big fishy kiss on me, wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered gently in my ear "I love you Mama!" And like a flash she was running off to play downstairs. Talk about an attitude adjustment! All of a sudden, I found my patience and my smile.


It is so easy to get engulfed in the craziness of the "when it rains it pours" kind of days, but its not an excuse to always lose our cool. Its important for us as parents to be able to check our attitudes when we start to get snappy. And a kiss can certainly help do that! Sometimes not any kiss can fix a bad day. Sometimes only a fishy kiss will do! So if you're having a bad day, give away a fishy kiss....its impossible to do without a smile! Here's a fishy one for you!

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
-- Charles R. Swindol