Rumination on a “Good Day”
My 4 year old started saying “Good Day!” every time someone leaves the house. What he means is, “Have a Good Day,” which is the phrase I say when I walk out the door. He is also saying “Oh my God!” way more than I would like to admit. Clearly both these things are something I must say a lot without even thinking of it.
When he started saying it, it stood out to me.
The first reason I paid attention is that he can say comparatively fewer words than other kids his age, so every word or phrase is noticed and celebrated. I think when things come easy, we don’t necessarily notice. If your child repeats everything, then you won’t keep track of every phrase. His language is delayed enough that we notice every new sound and word. And phrases are a VERY big deal.
I find it so interesting that this is one phrase that he readily and spontaneously says. I say it mindlessly, like a cashier at the check-out, but from him, it sounds so intentional.
Since he dropped the “Have a…” it is also less of a hope for the day and more of a present moment feeling. He says, “Good Day!” and I feel, “yeah, this day IS good.” It already is…. not, I should have a good day or it is going to be a good day. It IS a good day.
As parents, we also use the opposite phrase often to describe our kid’s behavior. “Oh, this was a bad day,” said to our spouse at night over dinner. Or, “This isn’t a good day,” to let the teacher know about the child’s mood when we drop them off at school.
Sure, we can all have a bad day once in a while and I’m certainly not saying that we should always have good days. But could we just aim for more “Good Days?”
We all are deserving of More Good Days but what does that mean?
Days feeling like we know what’s up
Days feeling like we have purpose
Days where we meet someone’s needs and feel good about it
Days where we have our needs met
Days with laughter
Days with connection and understanding
Days where things don’t go our way and we find ourselves ok despite that
Days where we believe everything is working out
Days where we want to spend time together
Days where we feel free to explore and be without fear
I need to admit at this point, that there was a time in my life where there were very few of the types of days listed above. I didn’t enjoy parenthood. I felt miserable and like a failure. There was little joy and very few days that could be described as “good days.”
What would it look like for you and your child to share More Good Days? How do you get there?
If this resonates with you and you’d like a sounding board to figure out your answers to these questions, let’s connect.
Know more to do better. Let’s have more good days.
With love, Jill
