I’m not sure why it struck me all those years, but it did a piece of parental advice via bloke who had watched the DVD box set of Oprah’s 25th year. I’m not sure if it was a testimonial of the show or the box set but dressed in brown plaid his image stayed with me as stood in the audience and thanked her.
I was standing on our verandah, heavily pregnant with our first child hanging out the washing. I remember him having tears in his eyes which is why I probably stopped and listened because he said this one piece of advice changed his whole perception of how he interacted and parented his children. He was thankful for this piece of knowledge and so, in turn, am I. I took that advice; his aha moment that day, and stored it away for the baby kicking furiously in my belly, and used it as my own.
The advice simple enough was from Toni Morrison, the author of ‘The Bluest Eyes’. The episode a book club interview on Oprah.
Oprah says, “Toni says a beautiful thing about the messages that we get about who we are when a child first walks into a room,”
She then asks Ms. Morrison to talk about it.
Ms. Morrison explained that it’s interesting to watch what happens when a child walks into a room. She asked Oprah, “Does your face light up?”
Morrison explains, “When my children used to walk in the room when they were little, I looked at them to see if they had buckled their trousers or if their hair was combed or if their socks were up. . . . You think your affection and your deep love is on display because you’re caring for them. It’s not. When they see you, they see the critical face. What’s wrong now?” Morrison continued with, “Let your face speak what’s in your heart. When they walk in the room, my face says I’m glad to see them. It’s just as small as that, you see?”
So the piece of advice I try {Im not perfect I think we have all come to learn that} to consciously use whenever one of my children walks into a room I smile at them even when the world is not smiling with me because no matter how cranky they have made me, how physically tired and emotionally spent I am I will always be glad to see them.
xxDeb
