When you have one child you are able to keep a one to one relationship with that child. Training, disciplining, supervising, loving, interacting one on one. When you have two, three, four, five, six... that ratio becomes harder to maintain. Wait, it becomes impossible to maintain! It is impossible to see every child every moment of every day at the same time and things will happen.
No matter what you have diligently trained into a child you will likely have a child... or two... that will test boundaries and simply refuse to be "prim and proper" at all times. They might be hands on learners who absolutely have to touch everything, and that can lead to many interesting escapades.
You may have all your children in the same room even, but be changing a diaper, and behind your back child one is putting together a puzzle, child 2 & 3 are dancing to worship music, but child 4... has decided they want to see if daddy's underwear will fit them so they have in the blink of an eye, stripped to their birthday suit, climbed up on the table where you just finished folding four loads of laundry, scooted, tossed or otherwise flung all the clothes onto the floor to hunt for said underwear, and when you turn around they are dancing on top of the stage- I mean; cleared table- with nothing but daddy's underwear on their head.
You are now faced with a couple responses.
One: Grab that child, spank their bare tooshy, send them to their room until they are fully clothed and angrily set everyone in corners until you can seethingly refold all that laundry!
Two: You can call your mom to come HELP! stomp out of the room and bitterly cry how hard your life is and bemoan your role as mom to a bunch of hoodlums.
Three: You can pick the child up off the table, help them dress properly, show them the mess they have created, allow them to help you clean up their mess and let them know their actions are not appropriate or acceptable. Then, take a deep breath and wait till after they are in bed to share the episode with your husband or your blog and laugh at the absurdity of what took place and how cute that little 2 year old butt was dancing on the kitchen table.
Tomorrow it might be the entire bottle of syrup spilled on the floor and tracked by the one year old to the farthest reaches of the house and the clean up attempt by the three year old resulting in stickiness everywhere -while you simple ran to the bathroom for a hairbrush to start the assembly line of hairdos before church.
If you can't learn to laugh at these situations and more as parent of several children... then you will become bitter and angry and your home will become a place of yelling, fighting, blaming and pain.
Laughter is the best medicine. Although granted in the middle of it- we just feel like crying and throwing in the towel. This too shall pass. I doubt that the same child will be dancing naked on the kitchen table a few years down the road or even ever again. It wasnt rebellion or disrespect on their part or neglect and irresponsibility on the parents part. It just happened.
No matter what you have diligently trained into a child you will likely have a child... or two... that will test boundaries and simply refuse to be "prim and proper" at all times. They might be hands on learners who absolutely have to touch everything, and that can lead to many interesting escapades.
You may have all your children in the same room even, but be changing a diaper, and behind your back child one is putting together a puzzle, child 2 & 3 are dancing to worship music, but child 4... has decided they want to see if daddy's underwear will fit them so they have in the blink of an eye, stripped to their birthday suit, climbed up on the table where you just finished folding four loads of laundry, scooted, tossed or otherwise flung all the clothes onto the floor to hunt for said underwear, and when you turn around they are dancing on top of the stage- I mean; cleared table- with nothing but daddy's underwear on their head.
You are now faced with a couple responses.
One: Grab that child, spank their bare tooshy, send them to their room until they are fully clothed and angrily set everyone in corners until you can seethingly refold all that laundry!
Two: You can call your mom to come HELP! stomp out of the room and bitterly cry how hard your life is and bemoan your role as mom to a bunch of hoodlums.
Three: You can pick the child up off the table, help them dress properly, show them the mess they have created, allow them to help you clean up their mess and let them know their actions are not appropriate or acceptable. Then, take a deep breath and wait till after they are in bed to share the episode with your husband or your blog and laugh at the absurdity of what took place and how cute that little 2 year old butt was dancing on the kitchen table.
Tomorrow it might be the entire bottle of syrup spilled on the floor and tracked by the one year old to the farthest reaches of the house and the clean up attempt by the three year old resulting in stickiness everywhere -while you simple ran to the bathroom for a hairbrush to start the assembly line of hairdos before church.
If you can't learn to laugh at these situations and more as parent of several children... then you will become bitter and angry and your home will become a place of yelling, fighting, blaming and pain.
Laughter is the best medicine. Although granted in the middle of it- we just feel like crying and throwing in the towel. This too shall pass. I doubt that the same child will be dancing naked on the kitchen table a few years down the road or even ever again. It wasnt rebellion or disrespect on their part or neglect and irresponsibility on the parents part. It just happened.