The other day I saw a hilarious e-card on Facebook. Well, it would have been hilarious if it weren’t so eerily true. It said something like “All these stay at home moms are on Pinterest making their own soap and reindeer shaped treats, and I’m over here like hey, I took a shower and kept the kids alive”.
I am not sure how long I have felt this way, but I know that it goes back even to before my second son was born. Some days I manage to get a few things done, but much of the time I feel like I get absolutely nothing accomplished because I am busy with the kids. I know that I can’t be the only parent who feels this way.
It might have something to do with the particular ages and developmental stages that my boys are at right now. Dylan is almost three, and he demands at least three times as much attention as Blake, who is eight months old. I don’t mind engaging with Dylan and staying emotionally connected to him by being present with him, but feeling like I need to pay attention to him for every moment of his waking hours is very hard for me. It’s not like the only consequence of my choosing not to pay attention for even a couple of minutes is that he will feel upset, either. Things get destroyed, the floor gets used as a potty, Blake gets awakened from his nap, you get the picture.
If anyone is reading this and nodding their head in agreement, congratulations. Our toddlers are normal, and they are engaging in what is commonly referred to as “age appropriate behavior”. As much as it annoys, frustrates, and occasionally enrages me that my attention is required so frequently, it’s just the way that things are right now. Toddlers are only toddlers for a little while. Then they become preschoolers, who require just as much attention until they enter different stages of growth and development. I plan to remind myself of this the next time that I find myself getting frustrated. Keeping myself knowledgeable about the different developmental “tasks” that my little guys are going through as they grow helps me to understand why they do the things that they do, which in turn helps to ease the frustration a little bit.