Dating : Approach Each Day With A Positive Attitude

A little over a month ago, my wife and I had our son. I’ve learned now more than ever before how much my actions can impact someone else. If I’m not in the proper state of mind, I might end up being short-fused with my son.

On the flip side, when I’m in a positive mindset, I tend to be much more patient and empathetic towards him. Babies are incredibly aware of how their parents are feeling. If mom or dad are stressed out and angry, the baby will reciprocate that stress/anger.

But if mom and dad are happy, the baby will reciprocate that same happiness. I’ve experienced this phenomenon for myself over this past month or so since my son has been born.

Let me paint you a picture:

My wife and I haven’t been sleeping much lately because my son wakes up every couple of hours needing to feed (all newborn babies do this). A couple of weeks ago, I was agitated late at night when my son woke up screaming (again), and I knew I had to be up in another hour to start working for my day job. I was tired, frustrated, and not looking forward to having to work soon.

While my wife was nursing my son, my wife, could pick up on the fact I was irritated. She made a comment (I don’t even remember what she said), and I responded with a sarcastic, rude comment, which angered her.

Our son picked up on the fact both of his parents were angry. He then proceeded to scream and become extremely agitated for the next several minutes. All of this only further stressed my wife and me out. But, it all started because of me and my poor mindset, I shouldn’t have let my frustration get the best of me.

Lesson learned.

During these last couple of weeks, I’ve tried to adopt a much more patient approach with my son. I don’t let his crying or his frustrations bother me. If he is crying and fighting sleep (all babies seem to do this too for some reason), I simply rock him back to sleep or try to soothe him. If he doesn’t stop crying, my wife helps, and she takes over. We work together as a team the best we can. But, no matter what, I don’t snap at my wife or my son. I’ve learned if I stay calm, everyone in this house will be much better off because of it.

I can’t control a lot of the things that happen to me; neither can you. But, we can control how we approach the situation. We can control our attitude. Choose to be positive and optimistic, my friends. It’ll keep you sane. And during these crazy times, we’re all living in; sanity is usually in short supply.