This Monday morning I tried to get up early and take the kids to the park.  None of them got up on time and I had to resist being disappointed that we were not there early enough.  At the park my oldest son was uncooperative and complaining.  As i tried to go through a light baseball practice with him I became impatient and demanding.  At one point I looked at the expression on his face and remembered back to when I was a kid and when the game ceased to be fun.  I had to adapt some flexibility while retaining some discipline.  I let him sit down after he completed some very basic throws and when his ire passed I invited him to join in helping his little brother whom I was then instructing.

During this time I expressed frustration at not making it outdoors early enough.  But it did work out and we made a good start to this week.  I can see that my frustration was because of my expectations and it would have been worse had I not practiced acceptance.

I spent the rest of the day keeping the kids busy and doing yard work as motivated by seeing my neighbor's yard this weekend.

At the end of the day I got into a brief disagreement with my wife when I came home from an errand and it was 8:45 p,m and the kids were watching a movie.  I told them it was bedtime because we are on a new schedule and my wife insisted that I was being mean and that they should be able to watch the movie.  I thought about being calm and assertive but eventually lost my temper and said that I give up trying, that the kids will just be fat, lazy, slackers.  My wife took this personally.  I didn't mean it as a stab at her.  But this is my genuine fear.  I can see that my fear caused my motivation to over-function and drive me blindly.  I pray that I will do better this week.

Thanks be to God for this day.