Starting Fresh

By: Alexandra Murtaugh

This winter was a seemingly unending cycle of illness for my kids- they’ve had strep throat, covid, stomach bugs, and a lot of sniffles. So, like many of you, I have been waiting impatiently for spring and summer- for warmth, sunshine, and the joy of being outside well into the evening. With all of that, spring brings new life and a sense of renewed energy. No matter what the winter was like, new buds form and green springs up around us. I think there’s a lot we can learn from this time. 

As parents, we (hopefully) give our kids a lot of opportunities to start fresh. We typically don’t hold long grudges (I’ve never met a parent who was still mad about their kid’s toddler tantrums) and we let our kids try and try again. But sometimes we don’t offer ourselves this same opportunity to start fresh. We stay stuck wondering why we lost our temper, why we weren’t empathetic enough to our kids’ needs, whether we’re doing enough to raise happy, independent people. We can get caught up without pausing and recognizing that every interaction with our kids is an opportunity to start fresh. Every time we play with them, listen to them, laugh with them, and offer our curiosity and kindness to them, we are strengthening that relationship, we are allowing the space for something new.

We spend a lot of time as parents looking backwards, but spring reminds us that growth is about looking forward. Let us use this time of natural renewal to think about how we can start fresh with ourselves and make choices moving forward that allow for something beautiful and new to grow.