“You can only be young once, but you can always be immature.”
(Dave Barry)

Ouch. I know this is true for me. Just because my age is greater than my kids’, my behavior often isn’t. I am just more subtly immature than they are. Whenever we are faced with a situation and we feel our blood start to boil, the most important thing we can do is to pause and reinforce this thought to ourselves: I am the grownup here and I am going to act like it right now.

When we’re grownups, we don’t need our children to like what we say or what we do. We do what’s best for them regardless of how they feel about that fact. We don’t need their validation or appreciation to feel good about the job we’re doing in raising them. It’s when we actually seek those things from them we find ourselves acting just as immaturely as they are. And that’s not a pretty picture no matter how you look at it.

Peace begins with pause,