As a dad I make a lot of mistakes. But my kids are gracious to forgive if I’m humble enough to admit my mistakes.
Canadian born Hollywood actress Mary Pickford said:
You may make mistakes, but you are not a failure until you start blaming someone else
My sad brag – I’ve made more mistakes than you
If you’re a parent you have made more mistakes than you even know you’ve made. Don’t you feel better now?
The reason I know this is because I think I’ve made more mistakes than any parent.
As parents, when we have kids, usually the only instruction we have had was from our parents who were never taught anything themselves about raising kids.
How much did you know before you had kids?
There are the odd individuals (sometimes very odd), who have read a few books (or blogs) and maybe done a course or 2 only to realise that most of what was taught somehow doesn’t seem to apply to their kids/family.
That was me. There were so many books, CD’s to read and listen to but it seemed none of them had much info that was relevant to my kids.
I’ve made some doozies at all ages of my kids lives. Sometimes we just need to get over it and stop kicking ourselves, but that’s a whole other issue.
Here’s the truth and the good news
The good news is, that when I settled down emotionally and went to my children to ask for forgiveness, I was amazed at how much they wanted to forgive. They are not only willing, but they want to forgive. They don’t want to hold grudges or have a broken relationship.
Is this true for you too?
Not only that, but when I admit what I’ve done wrong, the exact opposite to what I was expecting happened. They weren’t angry or upset.
In fact by humbling myself, this mistake and request for forgiveness created a mutual respect, and in particular a respect from them to me.
It also lets them know they can talk to me when they make mistakes, because we all do.
Want to check it out for yourself?
Some parents are afraid that if they ask forgiveness, their kids will lose respect for them. As you can see though, the exact opposite is true.
When is the last time you asked forgiveness from your children for something you have done?