31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes - Day 13 Patience

Patience...I always think of the phrase, "waiting without complaining" when I hear the word patience. It's something I tried to instill in my three when they were little. Along with that came the practice of putting their hand on my arm when they saw I was talking to someone else and they wanted to talk. I would put my hand over the little hand resting patiently on my arm so they would be aware I had acknowledged their need to speak. Then I could politely ask the person who I was talking to if they mind if I check on what my little person needed. It taught them respect for who I was talking to, and seemed a more patient and polite way to get my attention than just butting into my conversation. 

I had to giggle the other day when my grown daughter told me that she had been doing this with other people too... and she only recently realized it was not something everyone did.