Admitting Mistakes

Admitting mistakes are not just for the young.  Okay, it’s even harder to acknowledge that we need to do this more with each other, but have you thought about doing this with your child?

Being vulnerable comes with admitting mistakes.  We think we have to be the constant model for our children, but unfortunately we take it too far sometimes.  it should also be taught that admitting mistakes is a teaching as well. It is not just the good things that we do are they learning from us anyway, right?  those “little pictures” do have big ears.

Admitting when we are wrong or have made a bad choice, which culminates in a mistake, teaches our children empathy and compassion and even what the “right” thing is to do.  Remember the principles of your family?  When they learn empathy and compassion from home with you there is a gift here.  They take the gift of compassion and empathy with them throughout their lives.

Apologies come hard for some of us.  But when you do them with little people they feel important.  They may be thinking, “I must be pretty important for Mommy to say, ‘I’m sorry’ to me.”  It also allows for mistakes to be viewed as a learning point,  how to move on, but with integrity.  You have taken the time to apologize, maybe even explain yourself and show that it is not the end of the world.

A good idea for the Family Meeting can be an Apology Box.  When something happens during the week that you felt bad for and know you need to apologize, but may not have at the time, write it down and place it in the Box for Family Meeting time.  Parents, you can do this for each other too.

Learning how to admit mistakes also teaches that you can go off track but there are those who do always love you no matter what.  The mistake can be a lesson in how to move on from here, how to lean on those who love you unconditionally and even how to  problem solve together.  Learn from our mistakes, correct what you can, and move on. That is life.