One of Those Days

We had one of those days with Ian yesterday. Actually, to be fair it was only for a couple of hours. Trevor took him out in the morning so that I could get some work done. They had to cut the visit to the playground short because of some somewhat inadvertent bad behavior on Ian's part. After he received his punishment when they got home the late morning continued to spiral hopelessly downward until lunchtime arrived. Once I got some food in him it was like he did an about face and he was fine the rest of the day.

I just read this blog post this morning and all I can say is "wow!" She really captures what it's like to be a parent in the middle of a child's tantrum. Our day wasn't nearly as bad as what she describes here. Honestly, I don't know if we've ever experienced anything quite like that, I'm not saying it can't happen - just that it hasn't happened yet!

Before I had kids I was the perfect parent. In my opinion everyone is the perfect parent when they don't have kids. Whether it's pre-kids or post-kids. Before I had kids if I saw one flipping out in public I would think to myself "what is wrong with that parent?!" Now, when I see the same situation I think "oh, honey - I know what you're going through!" and I try to send good vibes and a knowing look her way. Because honestly, which of us parents hasn't gone through that every now and again.

I hope that when I'm in that post-kids stage of life I will remember what it was like to have little ones that haven't mastered the skill of controlling their emotions -- in public! More often then not it's the strangers in the post-kid stage that give me the dirty looks or their unsolicited words of wisdom. I pray that I will be just as sympathetic then as I am now. That the truth of the way things were won't be lost in the passing of years or the blurring of memories.

But, for now I will read and re-read the post I linked to above and find company in my misery. Knowing that I'm not alone in my struggles is what gets me through them.