Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

My daughter has always been very particular about things. We've kind of attributed it to her idiosyncrasy and left it at that. But the other day after she had a fit about some very unimportant thing, I finally had to ask her, "Have you ever heard of the expression, 'Don't sweat the small stuff?'"

She shot me a dirty look and grudgingly said no.

"Well," I proceeded, "it means you shouldn't be so particular about everything. When something is important, you need to be precise, of course. But little details that aren't so important shouldn't drive you crazy."

The aforementioned fit happened while we were playing ping-pong. Twice that day she broke down in tears while playing ping-pong, all because I didn't make the ball land where she could hit it.

Mind you, I'm not a very good ping-pong player. So how was I supposed to make that tiny ball land at will, just so my precious angel wouldn't have a temper tantrum when she missed the ball?

It was frustrating when all she could talk about was how those shots were so impossible, with tears and sobs throughout her tirade. I almost wanted to yell, "How do you think it makes me feel, when I do want to make it easy for you but don't have the skills to pull it off? I already told you I'm not good at ping-pong. What do you want from me?!"

But after I realized all the consolation in the world couldn't stop that tantrum from running its course, I gave up on trying. Instead I told her, why don't you cry in your bedroom because I can't hear it any more. And she came out, an hour or so later, a happy camper again.

I don't want to --and refuse to-- sweat the small stuff.