Another common expression from doting mothers is "I live for these moments!"
When I say that, what I mean is: the only thing that keeps me going through those OTHER 6 days in the week is that one afternoon when we had an almost pleasant experience together where nothing was terribly destroyed, no one cried, and possibly both of us laughed and had fun.
The term "three-nager" has a more serious meaning at our house. It isn't just a cute occasional bit of sassy attitude. Oh no, it is a way of every day living. Seriously, I thought I had another 10 years. Everything is a battle. Every idea must be approved or screamed over. If her royal highness is actually well fed and rested, there is usually just a bit of screaming and stomping; however, if she is tired or hungry ( don't ever let it be both! ), you can very well expect much pain and anguish from all parties.
It's not a party.
I kind of thought that all parents were dealing with the same sort of "grumpiness." Then we started having more friends come over more often. And we had Chloe. Obviously, most kids do not behave the same for their parents as they do for strangers, but I still see so much more attitude from Claire than almost any other child her age.
Chloe has a completely different temperament than Claire. She is happy and content to sit and play alone as long as she has been fed and isn't tired. She is so much easier to please than Claire ever was.
But Claire's bad attitude is getting to even her.
Everyone at our house is a bit on edge lately. Claire always wants to play with friends and asking her to do anything else is criminal. Peter and I fear meal and bed times with her. And Chloe has started fussing so much at night any time she hears Claire scream. Ahhhh..... blessed sounds of bedtime.
So, there's the truth of it.
We've done time outs. We've done time ins. We've had plenty of one-on-one time. We've tried talking about our feelings. We have left her to work out her tantrums on her own. We've tried giving her more "real" consequences for her actions. We still have a "reward jar" going but it is really only working when she wants it to; if she is really in a bad mood, she just doesn't care if she earns or looses cotton balls.
So tell me, oh wise world wide web, what's a girl to do?
Do I just ignore it and hope that she one day grows out of it and all that wisdom and knowledge somehow seeps in?
And if so, what am I supposed to do until then? How do I find the motivation to keep going? This daily grind is really pushing me into dust.
The balancing act of my life is flawed.
Have you seen that triangle? There are 3 parts: Clean home, Happy kids, and Mom's Sanity. You are then instructed to choose only 2.
It's really not fair.
My sanity is very closely tied to our clean home. But if that isn't enough, our "grumpy" kids wear me down SO much that it just doesn't matter if our home is clean or not. I just never win.
So give me your best shot. How to discipline (or not) your strong willed child. Or how to manage to get through this incredibly trying time in a young growing girl's life.
Sympathies also welcomed.
