Hurt Feelings

Little Man (sniffles and whispers): Mom, you hurt my feelings.

It’s about the worst thing to hear, ever. OK, maybe not EVER. I’m sure he’ll come up with some doozies when he’s older. He’s insanely verbal and articulate. But, it’s the worst thing to hear, ever, right now.

I’m not sure he actually meant it. He hates our commute. In fact, he’s actually been lobbying to attend a school/daycare center closer to the house specifically to avoid the commute. Really, he’s said that. But, I digress. He hates our commute and he’s an incredibly grumpy monkey on the way home. He gets whiny. I can’t do whiny.

Sometimes I sing him this song.

Sometimes, I join him on the grumpy train. That typically doesn’t end well.

Tonight he was in all of his whiny glory and Husband was trying to talk him out of it. It was too much input so I did want any self-respecting mom would do. I found the mommy voice and said, “Stop. Enough.”

It worked. Everything stopped. And then, a small sniffle and a whisper. “Mom, you hurt my feelings.”

I did my best to explain that sometimes Mommies just need to have a break and that sometimes whining is just too much.

1. I thought about the fact that he needs to learn that whining is not a good strategy. [Calm and Rational]
2. I thought about the fact that he might very well not have hurt feelings and may just be saying that because he knows it will bother me. [Suspicious and Concerned]
3. I thought about the fact that his teachers are working so hard to get him to say what’s bothering him to the person who is bothering him. We’re working on him NOT doing the whole tattling thing. He spoke up on this one. [Proud]
4. I thought about how we are trying to teach him to be kind and patient. [Guilty]

Then I said, “Mommy is sorry Little Man. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”