[email protected]

In a message dated 7/10/2004 10:50:00 PM Central Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
>>>I would have said, "Hey, eggs get broken" and told her a story of
when I broke something. Eggs are cheap. They aren't worth harming
the fragile emotions of a child.
Go buy two dozen really cheap eggs. Throw them against a tree, or
drop them from a deck. Tell her that eggs can be replaced, but she
can't and that the important thing is the love you all share.

If your dh is going to get really pissed about eggs, I have to warn
you, the older children get, the more expensive the breaks!:)
We've lost windows, fragile things, food (hell, Jalen dumped a $7
bag of dried blueberries today) and eventually CARS.
It's just stuff.
Trevor made a huge error and left $2,000 worth of camera and video
equipment on the back of my car, when he was supposed to put it IN
the car. It was all destroyed...all but one really old camera. I
still mourn for my equipment! But as he cried, knowing how much it
saddened me to lose it, I simply hugged him and said "Trevor, these
kind of things happen in life, it's stuff I loved, but it's stuff I
can replace. I'm really, really glad nothing bad happened to one of
you, I can't replace the people I love." and also "that camera
equipment could never be as important as your feelings, you matter
more to me than anything I own."
It helped a lot. He already felt absolutely horrible. There was no
replacing that equipment by making him feel worse! If you live to
be my age, and not destroy something valuable, plus a lot of
invaluable things, then you are unusual. You might as well accept
these accidents as part of life, and allow her the freedom of
knowing she is still a good, wonderful person, in spite of making
mistakes.
{{{{{Thanks Ren, for this post! }}}}}}


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