Who do you want to be?
This weekend I was on a playdate with my daughter at our local park. It was a gorgeous SoCal Saturday in February. Low 70’s and sunny. The park was PACKED! We sat on our blankets and let the kids run around. They are approaching double digits in age, so its a much more relaxing event then when they were little.
After some time off with her friends and other kids at the park my daughter came to the group of mom’s sitting on the blanket and told us some kids were being mean and shooting their nurf gun at her and her friends. I encouraged her and her friends to find a new location to play and just avoid these kids that were being unkind. She came back a second time to report more shooting at point blank range. I again encouraged her to find a new location while she asserted she was there first. One of the other moms decided it was time to speak up for the kids and went over to talk to the kids with the nurf guns. All of our kids came back to the blankets for snacks and found new places to play and avoid the kids who were acting out.
I have a lot of respect for the mom who went and addressed the issue with the other kids and found those who were watching the other kids at the park. She discovered that the kid with the nurf gone was having a bad day from their parents and we were able to move our kids to a new location. I have thought about my choice to just encourage my daughter to avoid the conflict and my choice to avoid the conflict. I appreciate watching another mom take a different approach to the situation and learning from her. She approached it with curiosity, kindness and assertiveness.
After several hours at the park while climbing into the car my daughter dropped this wisdom on me. She said “Mom we get to choose who we want to be in this world. We can be the kind of person who lifts people up or the kind of person to steps on others and crushes them. I want to to choose to lift people up.”
I am not sure why she shared these words with me in this moment, but I am thankful for this old soul who is always observing the world around her and sharing her observations with me.
So I ask this today — who do you want to be?
