Paint Therapy

With four girls in our house , sometime things can get a little intense emotionally. We are going through a bit of an emotionally demanding time with Hannah. The other day she completely lost control, so although she had already rested for 20 minutes, I told her she needed to rest again. The screaming, kicking, flailing and out of control behavior that followed was so intense that I put her in Rachel Lee's crib so she would not hurt herself or me. It was bad.

Fast forward 50 minutes and I was at my wits end. Out of desperation I called Jeff and asked him what I should do and asked him to pray for my patience and her heart to be softened (praise God for my husband and partner in parenting!). He suggested telling her to rest quietly for 5 minutes and if she could not that after dinner she would go to bed right away with no play time with Daddy...the logic being rest now or rest later but you will rest. Hannah settled and regained control for a 5 minute rest time (praise the LORD!) and before we talked about what she did that was inappropriate and what she needs to do next time (what I call our healing conversation), we painted. We both needed time to cool off, to enjoy being together and to just relax. I put on some quite praise music and we sat together and painted with each other. (Rachel Lee joined in as well and seemed to really enjoy her first paint session.)





While we were cleaning up the paints, Hannah initiated the healing conversation by saying, "Mom, I'm sorry I hit you. I love you." I was blessed by her soft heart and that she initiated our conversation. The conversation that followed was a great...I talked to her about our need for forgiveness, our need for the Holy Spirit to give us self-control even when we are disappointed and our need to respond safely even when we are mad. I praise God for Jeff's suggestion, his prayers and for Hannah's heart being softened and brought to repentance before I asked her to be repentant. It's humbling to admit when you are wrong, and I am blessed by her humility. Here she is, enjoying paint therapy, my silly little 4 year old girl: