Days filled with work, camp, beach trips, and family improvement projects. The four of us clustered together on the couch watching the Summer Olympics - my 7 and 8 year old engaged in patriotic spirit. All sit in awe of the athletic prowess and magnificence moving across our television screen.
Those are the easy times.
It is the raw, full, in-your-face moments of parenting that challenge me. My "inside voice" falls on deaf ears, and I wonder which time it will be when I repeat myself, yet again...and again, FOR THE FINAL WARNING that will be the one leading to madness. There is too much screaming by everyone. All culpable. Some capable of better. Some still learning.
Do the neighbors have ear plugs? Or, should we open the front door and take a bow. This is what goes through my mind in-between breaths, and doubts.
I need a few solo moments in a hammock with a cool breeze...and the sound of my own heartbeat -before I am tumbled into the grass once again, by the raucous, undeniable blessings that are my children.
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A very valuable thing I read when my son was a toddler came from the book, "The Difficult Child." Do not say anything more than once. If you put your foot down there will be a meltdown, but there will also be a meltdown after you say it the 10th time and by then you will be even more exhausted and exasperated than you were after the first time you said it.
ReplyDeleteWe're still sitting on the couch watching the Olympics with our 17 and 19-year olds!
articles are very interesting for me,
ReplyDeleteBy all means, take a bow! If the neighbors have kids of their own they will totally "get" what is going down. If they don't you will be providing them with yet another item to add to their long list of "why I am glad I never had kids."
ReplyDeleteViva la summer!