"Parenting" Love is learning to say "Sorry".

My eldest daughter, Zoe, has recently taken up a part-time job in a restaurant. I was talking to her about her work, "You're new to this job, will you be a nuisance to others?" I saw my daughter smiling and reassuring me, "Don't worry, mom. My daughter smiled and comforted me, "Mom, don't worry, don't forget that I have a specialty - telling people I'm sorry!

This may sound a bit strange, but I can understand what she means. When Zoe says "I'm sorry", she is not only admitting her own mistakes, but also willing to take responsibility and try her best to improve the situation; and this attitude can often help to calm the other party's emotions, so that the situation won't deteriorate any further. I was relieved to hear her say that. This reminds me of an incident when my daughter was in elementary school about "apologizing".

From a young age, Zoe has always had a "different" ear for music, and is a child with an absolute sense of sound. This talent made me envious as a mother, and made me think that I should never waste my child's talent! Therefore, whenever it comes to anything related to "music", I am always very strict with her.

One day we were at loggerheads again, and in the end she stopped arguing and just cried, "I hate the piano! I hate the piano because it makes my mom a different person!"

These words pierced my heart and made me ponder for days: had I really done it the wrong way and made my child hate music instead? Should I apologize? I was obviously doing it for her own good! But when I thought of Zoe's words, I couldn't shake the feeling of remorse in my heart, and I knew that I had to do something to make up for it, to repair it, so that it wouldn't become a shadow in my child's heart. And then apologizing to the child is not an easy thing to do.

Results of the Apology

One night, I sat beside my daughter, and it was not easy for me to get out of my mouth and say, "Zoe ah, mom wants to tell you something ......." She looked up at me puzzled. She raised her head and looked at me in confusion. "I want to say that mommy really loves you...".

"Oh," my daughter replied, "I know that." Obviously, she couldn't feel the sincerity of my apology, so I made up my mind and continued, "In fact, I wanted to say 'I'm sorry' to you. I put you under a lot of pressure when it came to practicing the piano, and some of the things I said out of my mouth frustrated you, so I'm sorry."

"......." Unexpectedly, she suddenly hugged me tightly and bawled, "Mom, you don't have to apologize to me! You are the best mom ......." This night, in the tears of our child, our hearts were once again close together; this apology, though not easy, was well worth it.

The Power of Apology

When a child makes a mistake, it is easy for parents to ask the child to "apologize". However, when the parent-child relationship is in a state of tension, is it possible to take a step back and think about whether there is a more appropriate way to do it? Especially in the Chinese community, parents are often thought to be the natural right to discipline their children, so do they need to apologize? However, admitting your mistakes and taking responsibility can set a good example for your children.

There was once an entrepreneur whose pharmaceutical products were poisoned, causing deaths and injuries. He immediately came out and publicly took full responsibility, apologized and admitted that quality control was not strict enough, and offered a full recall and compensation package, which cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost assets. Six months later, the same product gained back its market share and goodwill, and was even publicly praised by the President.

Being able to look at ourselves and admit our mistakes doesn't hurt our dignity, it restores trust. May we never be too shy to say this key phrase for healing relationships with our loved ones.

From Dandelion Monthly