December 2nd.

Learning to be kind.  Teaching my kids to be kind.  BEING kind.

It's a lifelong process that continually takes me by surprise with its difficult lessons and its ability to make me a totaly different person.

I'm trying very hard to keep my "grown-up" people dynamics to myself and to teach the kids that it is NOT okay to be mean.  EVER.

The problem is, sometimes I want to be mean.  When someone has made me mad, I want to vent about it.  When someone has done something that hurt me, I want to talk about how awful they are.

But I was reminded today that the little things I say, the little "digs" that I sometimes take at someone else's expense, are heard and repeated by my children.

and not only that.  They begin to think that it's okay to, instead of trying to find the good in people, instead of trying to work out differences and get along with others, that they can simply dismiss other people and their feelings as less important than their own.

And so I'm trying. Really trying to be more gentle with my words, to be gracious; to be KIND.