In certain situations forgiveness is probably the bravest response. I can only look on in awe when people forgive those that have committed terrible crimes against them and their family.
As adults we can make this a complicated affair and spend hours agonizing over whether we should or shouldn’t forgive another’s actions.
But now a 3-year-old has broken this tough emotion down to its simplest form and it’s serving as a revelation to thousands of adults around the nation.
Mom and blogger Mary Katherine Backstrom had shared a particularly tough bedtime hour with her 3-year-old daughter Holland, one every parent can relate to when you’re so exhausted but your child won’t go to bed.
It seems emotions were fraught and words were said and when Mary finally got her daughter to settle, Holland had some strong words for her exhausted and annoyed mother.
‘I’m done fussing over stuffed animals’
She took to Facebook to tell the story writing, “My daughter and I just had a knock-down, drag-out bedtime hour. Finally, about ten minutes ago, I put her to bed and through clinched teeth said ‘I love you, Holland, but not another word tonight. You are going to sleep now. I’m done fussing over stuffed animals.'”
But despite her apparent frustration Holland had a few parting words for her mom before bedtime and they blew her away.
“I DO have one more thing to say,” Holland informed her mom.
“Of course she did. She was standing on the bed with her hands on her hips, too. Her hair was wild and she was using her arm to wipe her tears and snot away from her face,” wrote Mary.
“Mommy…I FORGIVE YOU!!! Then she laid down and cried and honest to goodness, for a hot minute, I didn’t know what to do. The way she said ‘I forgive you’, made it sound like cuss words.”
Words were like a ‘gut punch’
So she went to her daughter’s bedside and asked her what she thought forgiveness meant, to which she replied, “It means you were wrong, and I’m tired of being mad, and now I’m going to sleep and my heart won’t have a tummy ache.”
Despite likening her daughter’s words to a “gut punch” she said she then “climbed in that bed and loved on her.”
Mary ended her poignant post with, “I was reminded by my toddler to never go to bed in anger. Because when you do, your heart will have a tummy ache. And you know what? I’ve been alive for 35 years, and I’ve got to give it to her: She’s not wrong ❤️”
More than 230,000 people have commented on her post, featured on her MomBabble Facebook page.
All the books written for adults on forgiveness has got nothing on this smart toddler’s insight into this tough process. We can all learn a thing or two from little Holland’s words.
Thank you for sharing this post with us Mary Katherine. Please share to spread these wise words we can all benefit from reading.