We have been in a hard parenting season here. Wild, 4 year old boys are tough. Add in the crappy PNW weather and it can be a bit of a recipe for disaster. Not to mention, someone has been getting a little bit too much screen time lately.
So, we took away his ability to use the iPad and things slightly improved. Then, Halloween happened. We’ve got a little sugar addict on our hands. The other day he not only got a kitchen chair, but placed a stool on top of that chair to try and reach the candy on top of the fridge. All while I was in the bathroom. Side note, why do they always get into things when Mommy decides to finally use the bathroom? Anyway, I took the stool away and moved his candy to on top of the kitchen cabinets. Since I am short, I basically had to chuck it up there. You’d think that we would just go into tantrum mode right then and there. Oh no, he decided to start climbing up the stove and onto the counter that way.
I eventually had to cart him down into our basement bedroom to keep him from climbing up appliances to get to the candy. This is when the tantrum really took off. Now, all parents can relate when I say it took forever to get him to calm down. In reality, it was probably a half hour. That half hour felt like eternity. It took me slathering Young Living’s Tranquil on him and playing Baby Shark on YouTube to snap him out of it.
I hate days like this. They happen about once a month or so, but it makes me feel like a freaking failure as a Mom. I try *really* hard to be a gentle parent, but I fail more often than not. I yell a lot more than I would like, but I try. That has to count for something right?
After a super hard day like that, there is literally nothing better than when they are finally asleep and you’re just surrounded by silence. You can sit there and watch them sleep. Really see how wonderful being a parent is. Feel the immense love that you have for your children and take a deep breath and promise that tomorrow will be a better day.
