This is following on from an earlier post, From the mouths of Babes. The day after the challenge mentioned, my parents and sister came for a visit. We had our long time reunion at a friends house while I was visiting with the kids. I explained the problem I had come across to my parents and waited expectantly for words of wisdom. I can't remember if there were any :)
After a while, the little girl comes in and crawls into my lap, I ask her if she wants a cuddle and she nods and snuggles down. Then my mother says "But Julia I wanted to sit on your lap" I said "Mum I love you very much but it is ... turn on my lap right now, there is not enough room for both of you."
She said "don't you love me" I explained again. Then Heather, my hilarious sister, said "Mum you can sit on my lap" Mum said "But I wanted to sit on Julia's lap" Heather said "Do you only love Julia? Don't you love me?" So mum got up and went and sat on Heather's lap.
She got it. She thinks my mother is silly because grown ups don't sit on laps, only children do, but she got it. Now I can explain that I have love like a swimming pool and just because someone else is in my lap, or having a carry, or whatever, doesn't mean I love her less.
At Agcamp, if you maybe remember, sometimes the girls randomly hug leaders as they walk past. It's more of a attention-seeking thing than a genuine affectionate hug, so we were encouraged to not engage in ALL the hugging. Just because it's a "love language" doesn't mean kids have the right to take it whenever they want it.
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