Life Lessons from my 7 year old

They say when a child is born, so is a mother. I couldn’t agree more.

I am blessed to have two wonderful young boys in my life and with all the trials and tribulations that sometimes come with the territory of being called ‘mom’; I must say that along this journey, my sons have helped me rediscover myself.

I used to think that you couldn’t teach old dogs new tricks, but I quickly realized that I was completely wrong.

The other day, my oldest son walked up to me with a perplexed look on his face while holding our touch screen tablet. His grade two teacher had signed the class up for a cool and fun app that helped connect teachers with parents and students. My son was trying to change the way his little character looked on the app.

We tried following the instructions carefully, step by step, but with no avail. I tried everything…and I mean everything, but it just did not work in my favor! Finally, after feeling defeated and frustrated, I decided to give up, after all, I had spent a good 25 minutes on the thing! I promised my son that I would have my technical savvy brother-in-law look at it over the weekend. This did not make him happy.

Instead of running off and getting angry, my son paused for a moment and looked at me. He said, “Mama, don’t give up. What if the next time you try, it ends up working?”

I looked at him while trying to fight the tears in my eyes (there’s just something about becoming a parent that makes you over emotional sometimes and for those of you who don’t get it, trust me, you will some day). I couldn’t believe that this little seven year old boy had become a voice of encouragement for his own mother. Well, at that point, I knew that I couldn’t let him down. I took that tablet and tried this and then tried that. Finally, I decided to perform the task on just a regular PC and see if that would make a difference. Well, wouldn’t you know it! It actually worked this time! My son was so happy and showered me with kisses. “See mama, I told you. In life, it’s not good to give up”, he said. I hugged him and asked, “Where did you hear that?” and he answered, “from you”.

I know that all of us were taught (at some point in our lives) the positive life lessons that our elders had learned before us. But, you know what? We all need reminders or ‘memory-refreshers’ as I like to call them.

I’d like to think that I teach my children these important life lessons. But on this particular day, I realized that my children are also my teachers and I continue to learn from them every day.

Through my experiences, I’ve learned that life can throw you curve balls. The important thing to keep in mind is that giving up cannot be an option. Whatever you are facing in your life at this moment in time, know that you are equipped with the power to overcome any obstacle and end up on top. You may not see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I can assure you, it is there.

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