How Many Buttons Do YOU Have?

This is my question to myself for the day and, subsequently, my thought for the day - how many buttons do I have? AND, why do I allow people to get away with pushing them? See, Craig and Shannon tell me all the time that my children know exactly which buttons of mine to push to get a reaction. How are they so smart? I have a really bad habit of letting other people rile me up and my children are no different. This morning is the perfect example - Kayla got up to get ready for school and came out looking all chipper and dressed and ready to go. I'm thinking to myself - "very cool, it's going to be a good day". Well, then I look down at her shoes to find that she has on pink shoes and there is not another stitch of pink on her. At this point, I'm thinking to myself, "oh, crud, this is not going to go well." Sure enough, I explained to her that she couldn't wear those shoes and that she needed to put her tennis shoes on. Yep, melt down. "Those shoes are awful, they just make me feel so ashamed." (and I quote) Now, let's pause for a moment - these are the Sketchers that she was so excited about, that she always wanted, that she loved, and now because they are a little bit dirty, they make her feel ashamed. Oh my. This is where the buttons come in. At this point she changes her shoes and comes out to flounce around with attitude and pouting and my button is this: react to the negative waves oozing off of her or ignore it? This morning I chose to ignore it. Then I receive attitude because I don't have time to put her hair in pigtails. And, this for me is the button - I felt guilty because of it and beat myself up over not making time to put her hair up. Is that right or wrong? I mean, some mornings you do and some mornings you don't. Why should I feel guilty about that? Guilt is NOT from God! So, my thought for the day is this - will I react negatively by allowing people and family members to push my buttons or will I let it roll off of me? On that note, I also heard this song on the radio on the way home this morning. Country, of course. It's called "You're going to miss this". It really made me think about how little time I have with my children and what is taking first place in my life. That ties into something that I read in my quiet time yesterday morning about just simply listening to your children. I have one child, who will remain unnamed, who has a tendency to repeat everything in very great detail and sometimes I find myself zoning out. However, I was reminded yesterday that it is important to even listen to those things because it shows them that they have worth and are important enough to listen to. I'm going to sum all of this up: My prayer for today is that I will have the maturity and wisdom to look past the times when my children are just trying to get a reaction out of me. That, perhaps, if I do react that it will be in a positive, unexpected manner. I also pray that I will learn to cherish each moment of every day even the difficult ones, because I feel sure that one day I am, indeed, going to miss this. On that note, that I will listen to my children even when I want to go screaming from the room with my hands over my ears; the stories about John Peter, the details of a 3rd grade day, etc. May you all have a non-button pushing day!