it's always been said that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, but I disagree. That implies that we cannot change, learn and develop as we experience growing older.
I got taught a lesson yesterday, and honestly it was a bitter pill to swallow. I mean, here I am middle-aged (or perhaps a little older), supposedly mature and experienced, yet I totally messed up and it only really dawned on me a bit later.
The background to this story is that yesterday evening I ended up in a bitter and ugly argument with my daughter. I blamed her for being rude and stroppy because she validly pointed out something I had done wrong, but in my anger all I could see was that she rude and disrespectful.
The bottom line was that she had asked me to do something, and I agreed and then didn't fulfill that promise, the argument then arose because I then asked her to do something for me and when she didn't do it as promptly as I expected, I flew off the handle and acted like an ass.
I should have done what she asked, or at the very least set an expectation that I wouldn't be able to do at the time.
I have been stewing on this all morning, and I have realised how unfair it was of me to have a go at her when she didn't meet my expectations, but I hadn't done what I had committed to, indeed what I had promised to do.
I cannot undo what I said, but only apologise and commit to being better, more committed, more responsive and making sure that my expectations of my children and people in general are respectful at all times.
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