It’s crazy how time flies. Just a few short months ago I was raising your average toddler. She was fully interested in engaging with the world around her. Rarely did she have an opinion about what to do, where to go, or what to eat. But lately I’ve found that when I look into the eyes of my moody and insistent three year old that I’m actually looking at what the future holds. The teenage years are upon us now.
Living with a threenager can be difficult.
If it isn’t the irritability that sucks your energy as a parent it’s the part about living life on the constant edge of a meltdown. Emotions are attached to every decision, every object, and every breath.
Most recently I was scolded for moving her teddy bear from one side of the couch to the other. Clearly, I was in the wrong.
“How dare you move my bear. That is terrible!” was her response all while trying to hold back tears.
But the beauty of being a parent is using these meltdowns and emotional moments to begin to teach her healthy ways of expressing herself. In the hardest moments I turn to God for help and then I remember that my job is to teach her to do the same thing. We pray through difficult times together. With tear streaked faces we turn our eyes from ourselves. (She in her desperation to get a handle on her feelings; me in my desperation to help her see that the world isn’t falling apart because I moved the bear.) As we sit together I realize that these threenager days may be tough, but I’m a blessed to be her mother anyway. God will equip me with the wisdom and patience for raising this threenager!
The Ameri Brit Mom
The Ameri Brit Mom 