WALK AWAY!

When you take your child to get check-ups and or shots they give you a check list of things they should be doing and things to help with parenting. It always made laugh when on the sheet for parenting it gives different tips and one of them says, “If you are feeling frustrated or about to lose your temper, WALK AWAY”. Well I have had to do that with Mary Elizabeth in the past and dealing with the terrible twos, but it was Grayson’s turn last night. We picked them up from school and had to stop by the grocery store. Literally she cried from the time we left the grocery store, 5:30ish, to about 6:45-7:00. We tried giving her her bottle, changing her, feeding her dinner, walking around with her, holding her, bathing her, you name and we tried it. It took both of us just to get her changed; she didn’t want any part of either one of us. She refused to calm down no matter what we did. Ben and I were about at our wits in and just had to WALK AWAY. We had done everything we knew to do. She wasn’t hungry, she had been changed, she wasn’t sick, and there wasn’t’ anything wrong with her.

Once we finally got her to stop crying for two seconds. I feed her some chicken noodle soup, which of course ended up all over the floor, which wasn’t helping mine or Ben’s frustration with her. We were able to give her some yogurt and when Ben was feeding her we discovered the culprit, TEETH!!!! She is getting almost all of her back teeth all at the same time.

No one ever said parenting was easy, but boy last night takes the cake. Yes, all parents get frustrated. Children take a lot of time and energy. I have realized my short time as a parent that is okay for parents to lose their temper with their children, but it’s not okay to take it out on them. So my advice to new parents is just WALK AWAY when you begin to feel angry or frustrated because children do not come with a mute button.