At the time I had my first son, I was still a teacher and was also an active member of my church. As he became a toddler showing his independence, I stopped teaching (because I didn’t want to be labeled a “working mom”), but I took on more outside activities (projects and church obligations) that made me not focus on where my real priorities should be.
We had a small house with a wall phone that had a long cord that stretched across the entire room, including the kitchen. I was scrambling eggs one morning while simultaneously talking with a church friend. The cord was stretched tightly across the kitchen in order to reach the stove. Suddenly, the conversation was cut off. The phone cord snapped against my legs, and when I turned around, my then three-year-old was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a shocked look on his face, and a large pair of scissors still opened in his hand. Instead of punishing him, my mind was overtaken by the lesson he had just driven home with his actions: “Mom, I’m here for you, but are you really here for me?” I picked him up in my arms and told him that everything was okay. And I learned to make him my first priority!
Barbara
My Toddler Showed Me How to Cut the Cord
