Sunday, June 6, 2010

Horses....

Alison is at that questioning and impatient stage...

When she comes at me with her "I want it NOW" attitude, I am trying to teach her the value of patience.

"Hold your horses", I will say to her. My dad used to say that to me. It is an old fashioned saying, but I tend to like old fashioned. I used it with my children, along with other old fashioned phrases.

"I don't have any horses", is her reply. She thinks I am very silly to be talking about horses.

"It means be patient, wait for me to be able to ....." (fill in the blank). This is a very hard lesson for her. Patience is so difficult a concept at four.

This scenario happens on a daily basis.

Today Alison got in trouble with her mom. She was being demanding and impertinent. She was put in "time out" and told to sit there for a few minutes. I stayed out of it, this was between her and her mom. Through her tears I heard her sob...

"I can't hold my horses".

It was very hard not to burst out laughing.

...I wonder if someday Alison will use that phrase in teaching her children about patience...

1 comment:

  1. I remember you using that phrase growing up. I use it on my kids sometimes too:)

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