Is this a big deal or a little deal?
I say this a lot in my house: “Is this a big deal or a little deal?” Sometimes it’s a direct question to a 5 year old. Most of the time I’m saying it softly as I walk past a certain fierce 12 year old who just screwed something up and needs to put things in proper perspective. In my mind, the correct answer is “little deal”. In our house, if you screw up, you fix it and maybe you also work to repair a relationship if necessary. But nothing big and scary happens. It’s simple. Still, when my oldest makes a blunder, she can go from oops to scared to rageful pretty quickly. That little reminder … “is this a big deal or a little deal” can sometimes keep her mind thinking and her feet on the ground in the here and now - away from those days when little things were big, scary deals. This week, however, we had a few BIG DEALS that I think are worth noting:
I so appreciate your perspective. I work in an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility for 13-19year old girls. I have to ask this question (of them and of myself) several times a day. :-)
