Things We've Learned

As you continue to "grow-up", sometimes, you actually get to rediscover yourself. Our children teach us more things than we teach them. Aaron recalls an experience we had a year ago. Levi, age 2, found dad's screwdriver. We all remember the day that we went to move our coffee table, only to find Levi had performed an amputation surgery to the tabletop. Aaron, in this instance, learned to not leave his tools out. On our journey of rediscovering ourselves, we see ourselves in our children. We see our stubbornness, our attitudes, and our ways of expressing ourselves. I'd like to think that these were always the best expressions, however, as parents have and will always say, "I hope you get a kid just like you!"
Aaron, full of stories, has another example of childhood relations. In Elder's Quorum, Aaron recalled some words of wisdom from his father. Whenever they would do something stupid, his dad would say "Are ya gonna to do it again?" The reply was always a resounding, "No." Thinking back, he has learned what he was trying to teach. You learn from your mistakes, and you move on.
It is true, we are all human, and although we all do some dumb things, some do them more than others! As we've been going to a parenting class, we have learned of the many ways to do parenting. As we have looked back on how we were parented, and how we want to parent, both of us have rediscovered our childhood and have learned to "chill out!" We do what has to be done! As the Prophet Nephi tells us "to act for themselves and not to be acted upon." As we are rediscovering our childhood and the joy of life, we have gained self-esteem and have set our priorities straight. We have even gained a little bit of a backbone against those "old-fashioned" authoritarian parenting approaches.