Today I went for a walk with a friend who has a son who is 11 months older than Chloe. It's always interesting spending time with her, as she is dealing with issues that are just a stage on from us. Whilst we were walking we started talking about morning routines and how I was having to get ready before J goes to work, now that Chloe has dropped her morning nap. She asked whether I could shower whilst Chloe plays downstairs. To me that seems impossible - Chloe cries if she is left alone and she relies a lot on others entertaining her. She very rarely occupies herself and plays with her toys! My friend suggested that I try leaving her downstairs by herself for short periods of time. This seems like a bit of a breakthrough for me because I hadn't really considered that she's old enough to play by herself. I always feel like I need to supervise her closely.
It's made me think about growing up and children learning lessons. Sometimes lessons can be hard to learn and I'm sure Chloe will still resist me being out of the room or not giving her my undivided attention the whole time. Another way this point was demonstrated to me today was when we were coming down the stairs after Chloe's nap. I was several stairs down from her and she started to muck around which she knows will get her attention. I didn't see exactly what happened but she fell down a few steps. I stopped her but she still banged her shoulder and was a bit shocked by the fall. Without sounding harsh I was quite pleased that she'd had a bit of a scare because I'm sure she'll learn not to play on the stairs from this, much more than me just saying ' no' all the time.
I could come up with some cheesy parallels in the way God teaches lessons but I'm sure you can work them out for yourselves!
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