“I felt like you really betrayed me when you did that to me,” my daughter sternly said to me.
I replied, “That came across a little harsh, and I was put on the defensive. Can you try another word?”
She responded with, “OK…When you did that to me, I felt insecure…Ugh, that isn’t right either! Maybe I should use ‘put-down,’ instead?”
We weren’t having a fight, and she wasn’t mad at me. My daughter and I were role-playing as a part of a leadership workshop put on by Girls Leadership, called Be Who You Are. Say What You Mean.
As the title implies, we were working on conflict management. As those of you who follow this blog know, my daughter has been dealing with a caustic friend over the last six months. Realizing we needed some professional help, I enrolled us in this parent-daughter class.
