Have you ever had a quote stop you in your tracks? I came across one recently. It read:
“Leadership begins with your behavior”
This quote was more geared toward business leaders, building a team, and a business mindset. But when I read it, hit me more as a parent role.
I was coming off of a rough weekend. A lot of bickering and fighting in the house amongst the kids and everyone. It felt like a lot of my fault. I had taken my work home. A rough situation affected my mood and my ability to be 100% present with the kids and then in turn, I was short with my kids and my husband.
It wasn’t fair. And don’t get me wrong, I know we all have bad days and I don’t think there isn’t a mom reading this that hasn’t yelled at their kids. But this quote, stopped me in my tracks when I needed it the most.
To my kids, I am their leader. In order for me to be a good leader to them, my behavior needs to reflect that. My behavior this particular weekend was not that of the parent I wanted to be. My patience was short with them, so in turn, their patience was short with each other and it was a domino effect. I saw it in their reactions and mom guilt poured over me and tears poured out on my part.
So what I am doing moving forward? I am working on being more intentional with my words and state of mind around my kids. To not take work home. They need me to be their leader and exhibit good behavior so they can grow to be the best people they can be.
We had a family meeting and talked about our weekend and our moods and behaviors. I explained to them that mommy had a rough weekend and it wasn’t fair to them. Even mommy isn’t perfect and we are working on all of this together to be our best selves. Thankfully, they are resilient and we hugged it out and they asked for ice cream.