I've called my child annoying before.
That's one thing that's a little harder to admit. I've said it to my mother before, and she got a little mad. I see her point. My daughter is just a baby. She's so innocent, so doesn't really know much about what's right and what's wrong. And she's certainly not annoying. She does things that might be a little annoying, but she isn't.
I'll also admit that I've raised my voice at the same, sweet little girl.
It hurts her feelings, and I know it, but sometimes it happens before I can stop myself.
There are a lot of things that, as a parent it's really hard to admit.
We all want to be kind, patient, and loving towards our children all the time.
We want to, but that's not always possible.
There are few things more stressful than picking up a cranky baby after a long, tiring day at work. You're both starving, and you're both in a bad mood. You just want to throw food on the table as fast as possible, so both of you will be a little less cranky. But it never works out that simply, because the baby is tugging at your leg. She's whining, she's crying, and then she's throwing a full-on tantrum on the floor. All while you scramble to fix her dinner.
Sometimes it's hard not to snap a little. I don't think I'm alone in that.
Or maybe you have more patience than I do. Or maybe you snap more often. I don't know, but we all do it at least once.
Sometimes snapping at a baby feels like a huge weakness. A huge one. Raised voice and mean words hurt, and I know this. But real weakness?
Real weakness is hitting. Some people hit their children. And not just a spank on the butt or a slap on the hands. And not like that time my mother slapped me for saying a bad word and knocked a loose tooth out of my mouth. Some people really hurt their children.I will never hurt my girl. And I hope I'm not alone in that either.
But abuse is not my topic here. It's dealing.
With two kids now, I know I need more patience, and lately one thing I've read (God-knows-where) really sticks with me when the girls are doing something I don't like. They are not purposely trying to annoy me. It's true. They're just exploring and playing and having fun. So if they throw all the books on the floor and start ripping out pages, it's not to purposely push my buttons.
And that one little phrase has helped me to react a little better a few times already.
Although in all honesty, when I tell them 'no' and they look at me with that "Make me' face, it kind of makes me wonder if they really are purposely trying to annoy me.
Toddlers be tricky.
But I'm trying not to call them annoying.
