When I was younger I thought promises were meant to be kept, always. Now that I’m grown, I learned that it’s not always realistic and it really depends on how people change, grow and adapt to situations and circumstances.
Now that I have children on my own, I reflect on promises and keeping my word to them; to instill hope, faith and trust in themselves, in me and in the world around them. I love my children and I hope they will always know that.
When I tell my children, next time, we will go to the park after lunch, I try my best to keep that little promise. When I tell them, “We can’t buy that toy because we have so many of that type of toy at home already, but we can buy a different toy if we see something we don’t have already; I try my best to keep my word to them the next time we visit the same store.”
Kids remember things and kids forget; but I try my best never to take advantage of their belief in me and the words I say to them; I want to learn that words mean something; but actions also mean something; and it’s often what you DO that shows if what you say really means something.
Sometimes, my husband and I are just too tired, after telling them we will go to the park after a full day of grocery and errands; and sometimes, We say, “We are sorry; mommy and daddy’s tired; but we can do it tomorrow.” It is because we strive to keep promises and show them words mean something, that our kids believe in us and trust us; they trust us and they in turn understand us; they understand our words mean something; they understand, sometimes, it’s okay to not be able to do what you initially set out to do; so when those times come, our kids learn to be forgiving because they know in the essence of all this, we try our best and it’s okay.
I’m not saying our kids always listen and never have meltdowns when things don’t go according to the plan we originally had for the day; but I’m proud to say they are pretty good at trusting us, most of the times when we need them to. When we are at the doctors office and they need a shot, I’ll tell them it’ll be a lot like a little pinch; and though they don’t like it, but they allow me to hold their arm and know it will be for just a moment; they believe us at important times because they know we value them and their voices; we respect them and things we promise them.