I Would Like To Be As Resilient As My Seven Year Old

Yesterday Pippa broke her nose. Today, we had this conversation.

Me: Pippa, do you want some pain killers?

Pippa: No! [Then, suspiciously…} Why?

Me: [slowly] Because you broke your nose.

Pippa: [in her “parents can be such idiots” voice] That was yesterday.

I should have known not to ask. She did not receive any pain killers at the ER. Less than two hours after breaking her freaking nose, she was laughing and smiling. On the way home from the hospital, we got milkshakes. I called my mom while waiting in the car. Pippa happily reported the story of her injury. Not even three hours after breaking her nose, she was seeing the humor in the situation.

I keep forgetting how resilient kids are. I do not have to lecture them about resilience. They were born with it. Instead, I have to make sure I stay out of their way and not damage their resilience! I have to teach myself resilience so I do not model bad habits or toxic beliefs to them.

In my kids, I see how naturally resilient humans are. We used to live in caves for crap’s sake and deal with saber tooth tigers. Am I really going to let a little distance learning knock me on my ass? Well, maybe distance learning will knock me on my ass, but I want to get back up, again and again, and keep going. I don’t want to be bruised and battered by distance learning and sulk in a corner, licking my wounds. I want to be a bad ass like my daughter and recover from adversity quickly.

Did she break her nose? Yeah, but that was yesterday.