“Please be quiet for just five seconds…please!” How many times have you uttered something similar to your children over the course of their lifetime…so far? My bet would be quite a few and if you haven’t, then you must have some damn good coping skills!
Lately, I have been trying my hardest to find 'the calm' deep inside of me during certain situations, but with three very energetic, opinionated, spoiled, and spirited kids, that calm can sometimes be extremely hard to find! For example, whenever my 14 year-old hasn’t taken a breath for well over 20 minutes because she doesn't have anything to wear in her closet packed tightly full of clothes—all while throwing everything in a pile on her bed—or when my 8 year-old accidentally hits me in the head with a Nerf dart and it falls into our poor Betta fish bowl! Oh, and this is all going on while my 12 year-old follows me around the house all day telling me how bored she is and wanting to know “what we’re doing next” after we just pulled in from a parade, sleepover, and ball practice. Obviously, I don’t yell at them every time this happens, but I do find myself yelling way too much because because it's just downright stressful and extremely irritating!
I am also well aware of how quickly time is flying by and that I shouldn’t sweat the small stuff, so I am going to attempt to make a conscious effort to ‘go with the flow’ the next time:
- We are in a store and the three of them are giving each other piggyback rides, throwing balls across the aisle, begging for $500 electronics, undressing mannequins, and knocking each other to the floor.
- I am also going to try to bite my tongue whenever we get into the car and they start fighting because someone is looking too much at the other or.
- I am going to try to remain quiet when we get home and a full-blown wrestling match breaks out because someone was breathing too heavy.
- I will also try to count to 10 when a picture flies off the wall during that same wrestling match and all 3 proclaim, "It wasn't me!"
After all, I am going to miss this, right?!
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