It just shows that no matter the child, or where they live chaos ensues if they are "feeling like it". My friend Caroline, who writes Singapore Fling, put up a post yesterday that almost mirrored the day that I have had today.
I woke up to a happy, smiling little boy this morning. We ate breakfast, got dressed and went down in to the town do some grocery shopping and he was an absolute delight.
However, somewhere between the fruit isle in Lidl and the driveway at home that little boy was spirited away and a whining, moaning, horror on two legs left in his place.
Each time I asked him to do anything I was blasted with a stern "no" or "well, I am going to do it anyway". The simplest thing ended up in confrontation or the flailing of small fists.
After one particular challenging conversation over the fact that I had banned any treats for the day because of the behaviour he turned to me and said "if you don't let me have them I am going to cry, loudly". It was at this point I began to shout, loudly. I don't know why I bother shouting. It does absolutely nothing apart from make it all worse. He cries, I nearly do and we end up no better off than when we started.
To diffuse the situation I suggested a walk. This is usually met with a huff and a puff and a whine of some sort and today was no different. But I persevere. We live in an area of such natural beauty that it would be a shame to be missing it on a rare warm sunny day like today. Thankfully the place I chose today had lots of mud and puddles and plenty of hide and seek opportunitites so some fun was had before the inevitable slouchy walk and knuckles dragging close to the floor like some lazy primate started and mutterings of "I'm tired" began.
I wish I could get inside the head of my child and pick out whatever it is that created these bad days, analyse it, record my findings and some up with a solution for the next time.
People tell me its an age thing, others claim its a boy thing and there are those who say "you wait until he is a teenager".
There is no doubt that being a parent it probably one of the most rewarding experiences of life but it is certainly one of the most challenging.
Hi Nat. ..I too have days like these. .I wouldn't say it's a boy thing, just a child thing- my two sometimes have the walking stamina of a pensioner! X
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