Life Lessons from a 3 year old

My three year old, he doesn’t always speak like a 3 year old.  The content of his conversations continually amazes me.  He recants stories with great detail, he follows movie plots and guesses how they will end – always with the imagination of a three year old, of course – and he frequently throws around words too big for his age.  I chalk this up to spending the bulk of his time with 3 siblings, 2-7 years older than him.

But how he forms words, his pronunciation, is very much that of a 3 year old.  Sometimes L’s and R’s sound like W’s, occasionally an L becomes a Y, you know the routine.  The other day, for example, my son was telling me a story about a boy named Parker, or as he says, Paw-kaw.  As I was engaging him, asking him questions about Parker, I would occasionally use his pronunciation, “Then what did Paw-kaw do next?”  And my little guy would immediately get frustrated with me and correct my pronunciation, “No, mama, not Paw-kaw…PAW-KAW!“

As we continued our discussion I was fascinated by his ability to clearly hear the difference in pronunciation.  Each time I said Paw-kaw he was quick to correct me, slightly annoyed by my mispronunciation, even though it sounded very much the way he would pronounce it.

I have read the R sound is a difficult one for kids to master.  It takes time and maturity as their mouths grow and change shape.  Clearly my son can hear the correct pronunciation, is trying his best to make the correct pronunciation, but no matter how hard he tries he just can’t quite get it yet.  No doubt with time and patience he’ll get a little better at it each day.

I can’t help but think that my 3 year old’s struggle is not that different from my own.  This life I’m living, I want to do it well.  I want to choose gratitude and joy.  I want to shine light and bring peace.  I want to live Truth and be brave.  And sometimes, even when I know what that looks like, it just comes out all wrong.

Like my son, I know in my mind what I want my life to say.  I know how I want it to be pronounced.  And there are times, convinced that I’m doing it correctly, I just say it louder.  I hammer through with the wrong pronunciation, knocking down whatever is in my way to achieve a tidy home, disciplined children, a fit and healthy family.  I run in circles determined to achieve it all, shouting my own proverbial PAW-KAW!

In these moments the welcoming and orderly home that I intended to create looks more like a barking mama cracking a whip.  Healthy meals are served up with a side of tension rather than love.  The graciousness I intended to pour out looks like something profoundly different.  The light is tainted.  The joy, contrived.

I have a feeling I’m not alone in the disparity of good mama intentions and real mama outcomes.  But just as my 3 year old isn’t a fail, I know that we aren’t either.  We are growing and maturing.  Three year olds don’t learn all of their sounds at once.  Those L sounds can come slowly, R’s even more so.

Just as we are patient with our growing and maturing 3 year olds, affording them grace, I hope we are just as patient with ourselves.  Humble enough to admit we haven’t quite mastered it all yet, brave enough to keep trying, and thankful for grace in all of it.

One time a mama a little further ahead of me on this mama journey told me that being a mom will grow and shape you every bit as much as you will grow and shape your children.

That is one piece of mama advice I found to be true, unfailingly.  Growing, shaping and in need of grace every bit as much as the little ones who call me mama.

 

For more encouraging words from some wonderful bloggers, visit Grace and Truth.