Blaming and Examples: Lessons from My Daughter

“Wherein you reprove another, be unblameable yourself; for example is more prevalent than precepts.”
— George Washington

I was 0 and 0 yesterday. I didn’t set a good example, AND I blamed others. You can read all about it here: https://3leggedtable.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/grumpy-and-annoyed-will-lead-to-a-miracle-really/

Luckily, my daughter pulled me back to reality. I left work late (due to the PB meeting and my subsequent pacing) for a track meet my kids were running in. I then drove to the wrong high school and stood there for a long time, wondering where our team of 250 students was hiding before I realized my mistake (which I blamed on others- the handout must have been wrong!). When I arrived at the correct track meet, they were just lining up for the mile race- 25 middle school girls stood all helter-skelter at the starting line. I took a picture, waved, tried to get my daughter to notice me (as if that makes a difference?!). The gun went off, the hoard of girls took off, and a little one fell. I shouted “Go Ella!” as loudly as possible.

My daughter didn’t go though. Everyone else went. But Ella stopped, petted the girl on her back, and stood there while she got up from the track. The racers were all called back to restart, and I crawled into a hole of embarrassment at my behavior.

Later at bedtime I told her I was impressed with her decision to stop. She laughed at me and said “Of course, what else would I do?!”