Family Inheritance (and little mirrors)

My three-year-old came to me one day with a toy in her hand. 

"Mom, this is broken," she said.

Then she shrugged her shoulders in the cutest way and said, "Oh well!"

The following day, she spilled some water, and again shrugged her shoulders with a nonchalant "Oh well!"

Then I realized, she had learned it from me! I must say "Oh well" a lot!

But then there was the time when I heard one of my older girls yelling from the other side of the house.

"You ruined it! Why did you do that?"

I was sure one of the younger children was the culprit.

I took care of the situation, but not without recognizing that my daughter's angry reaction was a mirror of my own reactions sometimes. How many times have I responded by yelling when a child drew on the wall, tore a page from a book, or (gasp!) cut a sibling's hair? How often have I lost my patience over small issues, or grumbled about a chore, or spoke unkindly about someone?

This was a wake-up call for me.

I am now very much aware that I am being watched. My children will not pick up ALL my bad habits (my prayer is that they don't!) but I could certainly work on making changes in my life so that they can mirror my GOOD habits more. 

My baby said his first word not too long ago. 

"Uh-oh!" he would cry out as he dropped a cup or toy to the floor.

Hmmm…. I wonder who he learned that from….

There is much that we can pass onto our children… our family's china, our freckles, our photo albums. Let's not make our bad character traits a part of our family inheritance.