The other night we ended up watching a Cesar Milan episode on TV. Ally will stop at anything with a dog. In the episode, he talked about projecting the right energy to your dog. The same could probably be said about my kids. When Cece and I get at loggerheads, Michelle likes to remind me that I’m the adult and that maybe it’s not always her, maybe she is reacting to me. To my energy.

As someone that works remotely and spends most of the day alone, she might have a point. I’m not letting the kids completely off the hook, sometimes they are just little monsters, but looking in the mirror first is probably a better teen management tactic than actually speaking first. I’m quickly learning that even my most innocuous comments can provoke.

Check the mirror, check the energy. If I can show them that things are good with me, they might be better with everyone else.

At the very least, Dash will be better behaved.