Dad tried to teach his 4-year-old daughter patience — her sassy reply made him realize he was the student

Often, children observe what their parents are doing all the time. Many of them even remember each of their actions longer than expected. Similarly, a dad, u/sakarasm, realized that his daughter was watching him almost all the time when he was trying to teach her patience. What happened next had the father thinking that his daughter could actually read him like a book. The dad shared a hilarious incident he had with his daughter on Reddit, and people absolutely loved it.

"Was in the middle of a 'teaching moment' with my 4-year-old the other day," the dad began in the post. His daughter wanted a snack immediately while he was doing something else. "I told her calmly: We have to wait sometimes. Patience is important." However, the girl was actually more focused on what she had seen earlier than on what her dad had just said to her. "She looked me dead in the eye and said: Like when you wait for your phone to charge and keep checking it." The dad was shocked that his daughter knew him better than he thought. The moment helped him realize something crucial about being a parent.

"Parenting is wild because half the time you think you're shaping them. The other half, they hold up a mirror you didn’t ask for," the dad expressed. He asked people on Reddit to share similar moments when their kids accidentally taught them something through their words or actions. "Subtle reminder, they're always watching us. Even when we think we're the grown-ups in the room." People in the comments shared their thoughts and similar experiences.

u/eyesRus shared, "My second grader wants to audition for her school talent show. She and a friend plan on playing a duet, and the song is very simple (as that’s all they can play currently). She tends to be very confident, and I wanted to be realistic, so I let her know she may not be chosen to participate, saying, 'I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.' She said, 'Well, you don’t have to get my hopes down.' Dang. You’re right, girl. Believe in yourself." u/MelodicThuder commented, "My 10-month-old does this little chuckle when you catch her doing something she shouldn’t be doing. It’s so mischievous. I pointed it out to my husband, and he responded with a video of me doing the same thing when he caught me eating his snacks. I had no idea I did that, but now I can not notice myself. Turns out I have a range of different laughs and my daughter is right there with me."

u/GuardianMaigrey remarked, "My husband and I got schooled by our teenage son this week. We've been arguing a lot lately - a combo of my menopausal irritation and some financial strain doing us dirty. We didn't realize how irritated the kids were until our 16-year-old approached us with a set of advice on conflict resolution he'd downloaded, telling us he was sent as a representative by the rest of them. His opener? 'Don't shoot the messenger.' Then he looked me dead in the eyes and said, 'You, mum. I'm talking to you.'"