“Mom Babble” is a parenting blog where Mary Katherine Backstrom, known as “MK” shares her struggles, hopes, and inspiration with her many followers. She believes in being honest about what she is going through in bringing up Ben, her five-year-old son, and Holland, her three-year-old daughter.
Recently, Holland gave her a heart-melting lesson in forgiveness and the story went viral when she shared it with her followers.
A situation every mother can identify with is when a child does not want to go to bed. MK experienced this one night and said that Holland was using every excuse to resist bedtime. Finally, she was so frustrated with her that she told her that she loved her but that she didn’t want to hear another word out of her and started to leave the room.
Before she could leave, Holland called her back. She was standing on her bed, hair wild, and hands-on hips. As she wiped tears and snot away with her arms, she stared at MK and said “Mommy, I FORGIVE YOU” after which she collapsed on the bed crying.
MK was surprised and not too sure what to make of the words because of the way they had come out, almost like swear words and because she wasn’t sure if Holland knew what forgiveness meant.
When she asked her daughter to explain what she meant, Holland said her mom was wrong but she was tired of being mad so she was going to go to sleep and her heart wouldn’t have a tummy ache.
Her mother couldn’t remain mad at her when she gave this explanation and says that it gave her heart a bit of a ‘tummy ache’. She climbed into bed with her daughter and gave her some love.
MK shared this humbling experience as an important lesson for mothers. Many times adults find it so hard to forgive others and battle to let go of their anger. MK was ready to walk out of her child’s room and allow her to go to sleep but Holland didn’t want that.
Her toddler expressed what many adults struggle with to make sure her heart didn’t have a ‘tummy ache’ when she fell asleep.
Her followers had a heartfelt response to this story. They couldn’t believe that a child could show such wisdom beyond her years and shared some of their own experiences where they had learned from their children.
They praised Holland for being brave enough to voice what she did, especially when her mother had said she didn’t want another word out of her. They also praised MK for listening to her toddler and learning from her.
Forgiveness is a difficult concept for many people and it’s amazing how a child could grasp it and express it so simply and honestly. The fact that this story went viral is completely understandable and reminds all of us that we should never go to bed angry with anyone if we don’t want our hearts to have a ‘tummy ache’.