3 posts tagged “parenting”
Some of my days with the kids are overflowing with hugs and laughter, fun and games. others, like today, are filled with a different kind of overflow. Noise. Excessive noise. A kitchen floor covered in cereal, thanks to my 1-year-old. Filled past the recommended capacity washer and dryer, due to the vomiting of my 8 year-old and trail of crafty debris throughout the house, compliments of my 4 year-old.
Trying to keep it all together without totally and completely losing my mind is my challenge, always. Love is patient may be my name here, but I would be a big fat liar if I pretended that I am consistently patient with my children. Patience is something I work at daily, and (with the love and mercy of God) I am making progress. Slow progress. But it is still progress.
In My Cup Runneth Over I write about this daily life as the mom of 3 little loves more extensively. As always, with a sense of humor and thankfulness for the life I have been given.
The first time my daughter had a tantrum, I called her pediatrician. I know that sounds crazy, even more so because she was my second child, and I was already a seasoned tantrum handler. But my daughter was only 13 months old, and she kicked, screamed and rolled around on the floor for an entire hour. She was inconsolable and she did not stop until she was thoroughly exhausted. Her tantrums peeked around 3 years old, to the point that I was often afraid to leave the house with her, not knowing when she would completely loose it.
The ultimate tantrum occurred at this time, in a restaurant,(luckily towards the end of the meal). She somehow lost a very tiny piece to a toy she had just bought with grandma (I advise against ever purchasing any thing so small that you have to crawl around on the floor to even see it) and we searched for it, but couldn’t find it. She began to cry, then scream. I quickly put the baby in her seat, and had grandma and grandpa take my other two children to the car as I pried my now screaming three year-old, who was refusing to leave with out the toy dog bone from her Polly Pocket set. She was gripping the side of her chair so tight that I had to pry her little fingers one by one to release them (in front of a full audience of diners) And carry her through the crowded restaurant.
It didn’t stop there. She refused to be buckled in the car, and when I leaned over to secure her belt, she lifted her knees to her chest, got her feet under me and kicked straight out, pinning me to the back of the drivers seat. I had kept my cool until then, and at this point I didn’t even scream, I cried in pain. I won’t finish this story. I will only say that it took me 3 months to get the courage to enter another restaurant with her.
Now, at four years old, she still has the occasional tantrum, but when she is put in her room to get over it, she will then tell me that she cried because I didn’t give her what she wanted. It has been a long road, getting her out of this cycle, helping her learn to use her words to express herself instead of screaming, and deep down, I still have a fear that she may go crazy on me again. I took four months for me to venture out with her to another restaurant after that incident, and she was a perfect angel.
Here is an article I wrote for HubPages that addresses the tantrum issue in depth. It also includes this hilarious video (if you live with a toddler, you will love it)!
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We all want to be the perfect mom, but we also know that it is not an attainable goal. Don't we? This is an article I wrote (with a sense of humor) that explores the idea of the perfect mom - the woman you know that you think has it all together.
I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think :)
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