Have you ever had to break a habit for your children? My girlfriend the other day came to me asking me to ask my readers, you, how to break a habit. But more specifically, how to conquer the fear that her children may pick up her habit.
We all have habits. We have a little something that maybe we don’t like. Biting our nails, smoking, drinking a glass of wine (or two), yelling, swearing. You see she bites her nails. Something I can relate to as this has been a habit of mine for years. So often I don’t realise I am “picking” or biting my fingers. And then all of a sudden…. like me… I notice my daughter doing exactly what I am doing… picking a little bit of her nail off.
Have a seriously put this into my daughter’s mind?
And I am obviously not the only one as my girlfriend has noticed the same thing in her little boy. The hands in the mouth… the little pick picking of the nails.
I didn’t find it so hard to conquer this habit of mine. Well, some may disagree that I have totally stopped. I have never really bitten my nails to the core anyway. But my girlfriend is finding it just that little bit more challenging. It is like this urge she has inside… she is holding herself back for her children.
I mean in the scheme of things, biting your nails isn’t so bad compared to other habits. It could be worse. But it just goes to show how and what children pick up on. Just when we think they don’t notice something, there they are doing exactly what we are doing. Little leeches that just do and mimic every little thing in us.
We are the role models. Whether it is biting our nails, talking a specific way, behaving or doing something, our children notice. And we can not assume otherwise.
My daughter is picking her nails every so often. My girlfriends son has his hands in his mouth. Is my daughter’s loud, angry outbursts a result of what she has seen in me? I don’t want to stop and have to think about every little thing I am doing! But… it is awfully scary at the same time!
So what have you changed about yourself for your children?
What habit have you broken, and if so, how?
Linking up with Diary of SAHM
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