Humility

I learned a good lesson in humility the other day. I've learned this lesson many times, but this was the first in a while. I had to apologize to an especially sassy 11 year old. Sometimes, I feel more like a sister to her than a mentor/teacher/authority figure. I live with her, and she gets on my nerves sometimes because she's especially good at pressing people's buttons. And I get on her nerves too. Yesterday, we were having one of those days. The more annoyed I'd get, the more she'd want to be naughty to make me more annoyed. She used her 11-year-old-ness to be annoying and I'd use my authority to get her in trouble. At one point, I got extra angry at her for something she did wrong. My reaction was not reasonable for the situation and I knew it. I could have just let her be in trouble and feel bad but instead I decided to right the wrong. I apologized and told her that I got too angry for the situation and it was wrong. She also did the right thing and said that I was forgiven. It's so humbling to apologize to a child. Maybe it comes easier for other people but not always to me. When a child disobeys all day long then I do one thing wrong, the last thing I want to do is apologize. But I know it's so important. Not always easy, but important. Sometimes it's easy to use the power we have as adults to take advantage of kids, especially ones that you know well and have daily interactions with. But they deserve the same exact respect that every other human deserves. Just because one has authority over another, doesn't mean they are"more than" and the other is "less than." All people deserve respect. It's important to step down from your position of power sometimes and apologize even when your position of power gives you the option not to. I've always believed in this but it's different when you're putting it into practice. Especially when you live with 19 rowdy children. My patience is really being tested!