
This morning I have been happy to see my children all playing together connected in a game they like to play online. At first, I wanted to tell them to turn off their screens as I have a concern for screen time replacing human interaction time. However, before I spoke I noticed something beautiful. The words they were using, the way they were talking and including each other in a make believe world was awesome. It isn't always awesome as 4 year olds and 9 year olds can have different views of how to do something. The youngest two want to be a part but the older two do not always like to let them in because they mess things up. Plus it is an opportunity for me to take care of some things. Everything is running smoothly in life and then SCREAMING!
Ella begins screaming at her older brother to help her and he won't. To her it is painful, as she is begging, screaming, and crying for him to help her and he is refusing her, rejecting her, telling her no, ignoring her. It intensifies the pain she is feeling and intensifies his irritation with how loud she is becoming.
After a few moments, I am able to find out that she is screaming because he won't help her, yet he won't help her because he understands something she doesn't...she needs to charge her battery.
Ridiculous?
No, a few moments explaining to her that she is asking him to help her with something he can't fix and helping her to understand that she is the only one who can fix her problem. Helping her to understand a little more about how long a battery needs to stay plugged in to really be charged.
How often do you silently or loudly scream at someone or something that cannot fix your problem? Learn from Ella this morning... she listened to what I was saying, learned what she needed and applied the new information to her situation... her world quickly became a happy place again.
The solution is within you, but you must be willing.