Parents, you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

Or just as likely, we’ve got questions and you’ve got answers.

Challenge: Perfectly Imperfect Parenting

If ever you are THAT family...

0
Vote up!
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email this article

1e4e0f2e5148df6d84101782f3c603a4bf7f631d.jpg

We were that family today at drop-off.

The visibly frazzled.

The irritated.

A group of four with no patience left for each other.

Here's why everyone's mood was so stank.

'Cause

1) it's not Friday yet

and

2) because this morning brought a sudden downpour, and, of course, our well-fitting raincoats are all in my minivan, which crapped out on me yesterday and so was towed to the dealership.

And because of that nonsense, my kids had to wear their backup coats.

Not a big deal, right?

Except it was a huge deal to my tiniest of tykes who swore her tight-fitting backup raincoat was squeezing her belly so hard.

Do you know what else was hard?

Getting her to deal with that situation and move the heck on

...forward

...to school,

where, if we waited any longer to get out of the house,

we might be late.

Do you know who doesn't like being late?

Me or my other two kids.

It drives us bonkers.

And it makes each of us bonkers, too, which in turn frustrates my youngest, who then ends up feeling like everyone is mad at her.

Mad I am not.

Not ever.

Not at the kids.

Irritated? Sure.

Over it? Absolutely.

But not mad.

But there's always one that is.

That lets the morning's mishaps get inside their skin, and then they work to do the same to the others because

"IT'S JUST SOOOO ANNOYING, MOOOOOOOOOOM! UGH!"

So there we were.

Half of us out of the car and on the sidewalk, and the other two of us trying to peacefully get out of the car with our #2 raincoat and good attitude on.

It took quite some time, but we made it.

To the sidewalk, at least when her mask holder necklace got stuck in her pony.

And that brings us to another ten-minute debacle where one of my three is fussing about something that's bothering her, and my other two are fussing about being bothered by her always being bothered by something.

I've got nowhere I'm going with this story except to share it with you so that if you're ever THAT family

-- the clearly things aren't going as planned and everyone is losing their damn mind family --

at drop-off,

in the grocery store,

at a restaurant,

in a movie theater,

at a park,

at a playdate,

at the museum,

or anywhere for that matter,

IT'S OK,

and it doesn't make you and yours look bad. It makes you look normal.

This post comes from the TODAY Parenting Team community, where all members are welcome to post and discuss parenting solutions. Learn more and join us! Because we're all in this together.