Reset Button

Yesterday morning I was a little grumpy. I was desperately trying to not take out my moodiness on my boys despite their million demands before and during breakfast all pre-7 a.m.

Despite my best efforts to suppress my issues, my snappiness showed up on the table. I know by now that suppression isn't sustainable, yet I'm still working on figuring out what to do with my emotions when they aren't what I want them to be in the moment.

After a bit of regrouping and calming my heart, I apologized to my Gabe and Will, told them I was kind of grumpy and made a bad choice by taking it out on them and told them that I thought it'd be a good idea to hit the reset button and start our morning over.

This sparked an idea that I thought might help to make the concept of resetting a little more tangible for Gabe and Will and actually make a pseudo reset button. I drew it, cut it and we pressed that button. Both boys wanted a turn and we went on our merry way.

At the end of yesterday I was satisfied that I was able to turn around my moodiness and have a way to walk my boys through this process in a way that they could grasp at 3 and 4 years old.

So today I had almost forgotten about said button until Gabe brought it up several times today at appropriate instances suggesting that we hit the reset button. One such time was after he had bit his brother. (This doesn't happen often and there is definitely a back-story to his frustrated emotions turned to action.) On his way to time out he looked at me and said "Mommy, I think we need to hit the reset button." Man, that kid is adorable. ...And it's a good thing he can whip that asset out at times when I'm not so happy with his choices.

Since the reset button has been a helpful tool in our house, I decided to make a little printable of one in case it might helpful for you to have your own. It's worth a shot. Download from above, print, cut and use! Seize those teachable moments and the grace that can sometimes turn things around.