My big kids are quite smitten with puzzles at the moment. This has been a particularly good thing over the past few rainy days. [Miss 3 received a Disney Princess puzzle for Christmas. She is quite taken with the Disney Princesses (much to my dismay), and, in the absence of any other Princess merchandise, she has decided to do the Princess puzzle on at least a twice-daily basis. This usually then leads on to doing all the other puzzles we own. I'm not complaining].
Anyway, while we were playing with puzzles today, a profound thought occurred to me...
Sometimes, Mr 2 in particular, is absolutely determined to find a place for a particular puzzle piece he has in his hand. This determination can occur even if the surrounding pieces are nowhere to be seen. Mr 2 will place the piece he is holding alongside every other piece available, and become quickly frustrated when the piece just doesn't fit anywhere. In this situation, I find myself advising my Mr 2; "That piece is too frustrating. It doesn't fit yet. Let's find another piece that does fit".
I am pretty good at dishing out this advice when it comes to puzzles, but sometimes, I'm not quite so good at accepting this advice in other areas of my life.
Confused yet?
As you probably know, I love reading and getting tips on parenting, organising time, organising around the house, etc etc. I often see ideas that I think are great. If I really like the idea, I try to implement it in my own situation.
But sometimes, it becomes apparent, for whatever reason, that the idea will not work for our family. Sometimes, my husband doesn't really like the idea (usually this is related to something silly like the way I want to organise a cupboard). Sometimes, the strategy doesn't really fit with our overall goals or direction (maybe a parenting idea). Sometimes, our kids don't respond to it. Sometimes, it just turns out that we don't really like it.
And stupidly, sometimes I hold doggedly onto an idea, frustrating myself and everyone else, just because it looked so good on someone else's blog, or Facebook page, or because someone wrote so convincingly about it in a book. I persevere, thinking that maybe we just need more time to "get used to it" or to "make it work". Or thinking, maybe we just need to be more consistent.
Maybe sometimes I need to tell myself "That piece (idea) is too frustrating. It doesn't fit (for us). Let's find one that does fit".
Do you fall into this trap? Do you find it hard to let go when something isn't working?
