September 28, 2007...5:18 pm
Getting Rid of The “H” Word
I am sure you know exactly which “H” word I am talking about.
No … not that “H” word. I am referring to the one we use way too often when we are a parent, “H-U-R-R-Y.”
“Hurry and grab your coat so we won’t be late.” “Hurry and finish your cereal so you can get dressed.” “Hurry and pick up your toys, it’s bedtime.”
And perhaps one of the worst scenarios, “No. We don’t have time to just play. We have to hurry and get ready for __________ (fill in the blank - soccer, piano lessons, ballet, etc.).”
Our household definitely suffers from what I call the “Hurry Syndrome.” Case in point. Not too long ago I was about to mention something to Keri while she was eating her bowl of cereal and getting ready for school. Before I could even get my first word out, she interrupted me and said, “Mommy, I know what you are going to say. Hurry up.”
Oops.
I don’t even want to know how many times my husband and I utter this word in any given day - what a scary thought. However, starting now, I am going to attempt to ban this word from my vocabulary … and I am not going to replace it with a synonym. We have been plagued by the “Hurry Syndrome” long enough.
I know this new habit isn’t going to be a walk in the park. A lot of planning, preparing, organizing, and learning to let things go and learning to say no is going to have to occur, especially on my part. But it will be so worth it. I despise the franticness and hurriedness that has become the normal pace of today’s society. I detest being rushed. I crave being able to have down time between activities. This doesn’t mean I don’t like to be busy, it just means I prefer not being overly busy.
I am already getting excited about the many positive benefits this new habit is going to bring about. Hopefully there should be less stress in our lives, our kids (and us parents) will be healthier and happier, and we will better be able to enjoy the time we spend together as a family. It will be wonderful to have a little bit more free time and goof-off time.
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26 Comments
September 28, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I don’t usually say “hurry” I say, “hustle muscle” or “hustle your buns” LOL.
September 28, 2007 at 6:24 pm
How true…you know i never really thought of that before….but we really need to slow it down and not always be in such a hurry! Thanks for this post!
September 28, 2007 at 7:49 pm
It’s also not fair for us to impose our time frames on our kids, nor to expect them to hurry when we haven’t prepared well enough. Thanks for the reminder! I’ll put the “h” word in the same part of my brain as the “S” (tupid) word.
September 28, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Wow, a great post! I find myself constantly doing that as well with my kids. Poor children are always going to be stressed out because of me. Thanks for the food for thought!
September 28, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Great habit. Something to chew on.
September 29, 2007 at 5:31 am
I’ve been thinking about this too in our house. I say, “C’mon c’mon c’mon let’s go let’s go let’s go.” Now how annoying is that? I’m sure it drives my kids bonkers.
September 29, 2007 at 6:17 am
Oh my. Thanks for this. I needed the realization that I’m doing to my kids (even at their tender age) what drove me crazy when my mum did. Agh!
September 29, 2007 at 7:06 am
Well with the Mayan Calendar as a basis for acceleration, we can dwell in such thoughts of ‘hurry’. I’m not quit a psychic but I am in the ball park. I can assure you that acceleration is one thing I can sense. I agree that we should not rush but it may actually be beyond our control. To learn more about acceleration and the Mayan Calendar system, visit the ’stage6′ section of Divx.Com. There is a 3 part video lecture on the system.
September 29, 2007 at 7:54 am
Great post! I started to fear that my son would think his name is “C’mon!”…I’ve started padding my leave time to avoid this version of the “H” word
September 29, 2007 at 8:37 am
Great post! I also hate hurrying and rushing throughout the day. It’s like if you start the day out that way, you feel like you’re spending the whole rest of the day trying to catch up. And why is it when you do try to hurry the kids along, it seems that they slow down all the more? Maybe we need to listen and finally slow down ourselves!
September 29, 2007 at 9:21 am
Lucy, I love this post. That word is used a lot in our home too. Especially during soccer season (1 high school, 2 competitive, 1 Varsity high scool coach!!!!) You can only imagine
It makes me think about this wonderful quote that I am working out a post on, by Ruth Graham Bell: “Beware of the barrenness of business!” OUCH.
Happy Weekend.
Sandy
September 29, 2007 at 11:54 am
That’s an awesome habit. I want to try too. Can I?
September 29, 2007 at 5:04 pm
When my first two were little I was constantly rushing them around. It makes life very stressful! I’m sure I still do it but I think I have slowed down a lot in my old age!
September 29, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Great post! All last week I was in a frenzy trying to hurry my 2 girls along. I noticed every car ride was filled with grim reaper faces and had forgotten the meaning of watching an ant, kicking a rock and stepping into puddles. Time to smell the roses….thanks Di
http://naturalleap.com
September 29, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Great post! I have to admit I am guilty of this but didn’t really think about it until reading your post. Boy, the pressure we must put on our kids by hurrying them along. I am definitely going to think about this post the next time I go to say, “hurry”.
September 29, 2007 at 8:27 pm
oh now this is totally inspirational!
I crave for the long lazy days of summer (almost here in our part of the world!) but I think I create the ‘rush’ of every day myself and wonder if I could have those lazy days now if I really tried!
September 30, 2007 at 7:17 am
hi lucy:
thanks for the reminder. (when i first read your post, i thought you were trying to talk about the opposite of heaven and i was thinking … is this a “G” rated blog? hee hee)
do you have your kids signed up for too many extra things outside of their regular school and church commitments? my two cents. i think it would be more special if kids only had max one extra thing to do at a time on top of their school and church load.
i want more simplification in life. peace to you this day and thanks for the reminder, kathleen
September 30, 2007 at 8:12 pm
what a good example for me too! we are always so busy…i have been striving lately to notice the little things more often and slowing down would be a good way for me to do that. thanks for the reminder!
good luck getting rid of the “H” word!
September 30, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Wow! Thanks so much for reminding us that “hurry” is really not a great word.
The last thing I want is to just hurry my kids through life until their not living at home anymore. It goes by too fast even when we remember to take it slow.
Mrs. Brownstone @ XBOX Wife
http://xboxwife.blogspot.com/
October 3, 2007 at 9:08 am
So true. Let me know how it goes and any tips.
October 5, 2007 at 7:16 pm
[...] week I embarked upon a new journey, trying to live life without constantly using the “H” word - “H-U-R-R-Y.” Let me tell you, trying to establish this habit is much more difficult [...]
October 19, 2007 at 7:59 pm
[...] give up after the first few days. It has now been 3 weeks since I decided to work on curing the “Hurry Syndrome” that resides in our house and over the last couple of days I finally feel like I am making some [...]
November 4, 2007 at 11:04 pm
I’ve been making a really big effort not to say hurry up since reading your post.
Thanks for sharing this with the Carnival of Family Life- Bonfire edition.
November 5, 2007 at 6:49 am
[...] presents Getting Rid of the “H” Word posted at An Ordinary Mom saying,” Life is just too good to be passing up while we are [...]
November 10, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Wonderful idea! You will also find that you say it less as they get older, too. These days, my 16 year old is the one hustling me out the door in the mornings, as he is anxious to get to school!
I’m late getting around to visit all of the Carnival participants. (Crazy week . . . only excuse!)
THANK YOU for being part of Colloquium’s inaugural edition. I appreciate your support.
Don’t forget that this week’s Carnival will be hosted at All Rileyed Up. If you haven’t submitted a post yet, you can do so until midnight (Pacific Time) tonight!
November 16, 2007 at 7:50 pm
[...] busy doing other things, I start getting the kids ready for bed late and I end up in that dreaded hurry mode. That is exactly what I have been trying to avoid these last few [...]
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