Today, actually, they made ME wait. I picked up my adult son from work and, just as I got there, he texted that something had come up and he wasn’t out for another hour. It was tricky for me.

Were it not for the lifetime of practice in taking turns with grace, explaining consideration, learning from tons of mistakes, building our relationship based upon mutual trust… I would have been unnecessarily ugly. Truth? It still took some effort.

You are in the midst of parenting young ones; their needs feel urgent (especially to them!) But you wisely took a deliberate pause, a measured breath, made a firm and kind request for “just a moment”. You are finding balance and teaching balance at the same time. You can boast of your successes in this. This is vital parent work.

I made them wait.