This morning I sent my husband a text to remind him of a couple of things he'd forgotten yesterday. That got me to thinking about nagging. Uh yep, I'm female and I've been guilty of being a nag.

We women usually want to know that we've been heard. It speaks to the CORE of feeling valued. Men, on the other hand, tend to have one-track minds. Once they leave us & go onto the next thing, They totally focus on that. At work, work is the focus. Fixing the car, that's all they're thinking about. Now, I'm OVER exaggerating a bit here. But, it's pretty much the way they are. I used to fight this and EXPECT him to remember me & think about me ALL the time. I mean, he was on my mind almost all the time. Well, God really did create male & female differently. In accepting that, I do much better as a wife. But, I digress....

Back to nagging. How do I know if I'm being a nag??? THAT was so hard for me to figure out. I didn't think I was bringing something up a lot but he was overwhelmed with my input (on SO MANY THINGS). I even tried notes but those got lost. (I really am married to an "absent minded professor" type of guy)

What I finally got was that to nag, I was usually pretty emotionally invested in what is important to me. That was what drove my nagging. When I learned to step back and think things through, it was easier to approach him calmly. Then we had CONVERSATION.... That was what I had longed for in the beginning. We were able to talk back & forth about what was important and actually REMEMBERED better. Amazingly I felt more valued. And he did too.

Sometimes we think something is really important, especially as moms. We have to remember that a dad has his own unique role as a parent. He has his own unique role as the man of the house. I know I didn't understand that when I was younger. A dad does some things different with his children that we moms don't usually do. These things are just as valuable to our little ones. Yep, he may forget some things. But what is he giving that is more important than what he forgot? Just something to keep in mind....