Saturday, April 21, 2012

"Good" baby?

"He's such a good baby."  Something we all want to hear, right?  But the opposite of good is bad and how can a baby be bad?  I may be thinking about this too much, but indulge me for a second...


I admit that we have been blessed with a baby that doesn't have colic.  I know parents that have colicky babies have momentary incendiary thoughts of throwing their babies against a wall to make it stop...(yes, I said it...it's true, but rarely talked about).  A baby that's experiencing discomfort to the point of constant screaming isn't a bad baby, they're just having a really hard time and we're helpless to fix it.  


I want to challenge our labeling children as "good."  All kids are inherently good and pure...gifts from God.  How about we challenge ourselves to really think about their positive characteristics instead of lazily letting the word "good" come out of our mouths?  I've caught myself doing it and I really have to slow down in order to share that Ray is "joyous," "happy," "smiley," "curious," and "healthy."


Just like it's been brought to our attention that there are positive ways to talk to girls to reinforce the value of their minds rather than the importance of their looks (describing them as smart instead of pretty, asking them what they're reading, what their favorite book is, what their favorite subject is in school, etc.), I think it's important as a new generation of parents that we're conscious of how we're labeling our children.


What do you think?