I'm trying to keep a good persepective and not let the little things get to me. I'm trying to be that model mom who is patient and calm with her kids and has the perfect response when they won't stop begging for the life-size pixy stick at the store. But well, that's not always me.
It's those darn "little things" that start to get me heated. For instance, one day last week I just started to make a mental note of everything that caused my blood pressure to rise. Here's what did it ...
- The abundance of food wrappers and apple cores and empty drink packages that for some reason stay on the coffee table and kitchen counter and can't seem to find their way into the garbage can.
- Hearing "One second, Mom" for the 4th time after I had asked them to do something and it still hasn't been done.
- The argument over who sits in what seat in the car everytime they get in. Truly how different is the left side from the right side?
- The constant questions and tattling while I am on the phone. Do they seriously not see me talking?
- The ongoing sibling squabling...for example here was one of many heated interactions: "Slug Bug Yellow" -- hit. "No that's really Orange" -- hit. "No, I said it first." -- double hit. And on and on and on and on... until someone was seriously mad or hurt or crying.
- Trying to run errands and having them be in their own world and not mine. They continually step in front of the shopping cart, or they want to push the cart and then run into me, or they want to ride in the cart and squish the bread. You get the picture.
- Their stuff laying everywhere that I finally pick it up myself and put it on the top step for them to take down to their rooms. I tell them it's there and that I expect them to take care of it...they will literally have to step over it to get downstairs. Yet unimagineably they do. Their pile stays on the top step. How is that possible?
- Our inability to get anywhere on time (I can't entirely blame this on them). However, far too often I say it is time to go and I try to move them toward getting their shoes on and leaving the house, but instead they seem oblivious to my request and start to play another computer game or decide they need to do something completely unrelated to leaving.
Does any of this sound familiar? Am I the only one who loses my cool over the little things?
Overall -- they are truly GREAT kids. They don't get in trouble at school, they work hard to get good grades, they have good character and good friends, they tend to be polite to others, they are kind and compassionate. I have a lot to thank God for.
So I need to remind myself to focus on the majors because the little things could make me crazy!
