![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mops.org\/images\/cms_images\/alex-2.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nI apologize to my girls. Quickly and often.<\/p>\n
There are two reasons for this. First I fumble through parenting and make daily mistakes, so I give myself frequent opportunity to have to say \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d. Second, I\u2019m showing them the ways of the world, otherwise known as modeling, teaching them when you make a mistake you must right it with a sincere apology.<\/p>\n
My personal need to make amends doesn\u2019t usually have to do with running late or being too strict on a rule. It typically centers around yelling. That\u2019s right high volume delivery, often in angry tones. My frustration with life comes popping out or I\u2019ve said it four times in a calmer tone, until the shrill yell stops everyone in their tracks. It\u2019s not pleasant. It\u2019s not kind. And most importantly, it\u2019s not how I should behave as an adult.<\/p>\n
In comes the \u201cquickly and often\u201d. I try to let as little time between the thought of \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have said it that way\u201d and the actual words coming out of my mouth so my children see that apologies are not meant to be held back, they are meant to be given when we truly regret our choices.<\/p>\n
Because it all gets to my key belief about my daughters: They are unique people made in a divine image, therefore they deserve to be treated with respect.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll admit there is that little issue of pride that creeps in. Do I find my authority is undermined by admitting I was wrong? Hardly. I find there is strength in saying \u201cI treated you poorly\u201d or \u201cI could have done better\u201d. It shows I have limitations just like they do and I can, with as much humility as possible, ask for a do-over.<\/p>\n
This is all really a modeling of grace. And since I am showing them the ways of the world, it only seems right that I should teach them about forgiveness too. When I apologize to my daughters I put them in a position to accept the olive branch of peace and to extend grace to me. My quick and frequent apologies remind us all that perfection is not our goal as a family \u2013 acceptance, forgiveness and grace are.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandra Kuykendall<\/strong><\/p>\n As a mom to four girls, Alexandra Kuykendall\u2019s days are spent washing dishes, driving to and from different schools and trying to find a better solution to the laundry dilemma. She is the author of Loving My Actual Life, An Experiment In Relishing What\u2019s Right In Front of Me<\/em> and The Artist\u2019s Daughter, A Memoir<\/em>. A city girl at heart, she makes her home in the shadow of downtown Denver. You can read more of Alex\u2019s everyday thoughts and connect with her at AlexandraKuykendall.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I apologize to my girls. Quickly and often. There are two reasons for this. First I fumble through parenting and make daily mistakes, so I give myself frequent opportunity to have to say \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d. Second, I\u2019m showing them the ways of the world, otherwise known as modeling, teaching them when you make a mistake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,117],"tags":[104,324,291,272],"class_list":["post-2478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-wellness","tag-advice","tag-apologizing","tag-humility","tag-vulnerability"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}