Case, my one-year old, has been a handful the past couple of weeks. He wants me to carry him constantly and when I don’t, he follows me around screaming. When he screams, our two dogs howl, and Brooks, my preschooler, yells over everyone trying to assert his big brother prowess. It’s about as much as a mommy’s nerves can take.
It’s been our routine to grocery shop after I pick the boys up from preschool. During the school year, I teach until 12:00, then pick up the kiddos, we hit up the store, and are home before Case’s afternoon nap. It was a seamless plan…for a while that is. Lately, anytime I put Case in the grocery cart, he cries to get out and reaches for me to the point of almost falling out and onto his head.
This happened a few days ago, but the grocery trip was imperative. We were out of milk, juice, yogurt sticks, peanut butter, and coffee, basically all of our essentials. To survive the errand, I first tried a Yum Earth organic sucker I had in my purse. This worked for about five minutes. Then he started screaming and reaching again.
Our neighborhood grocery store gives kids free fresh-baked cookies, so I headed to the cookie section. I gave Case a giant cookie with sprinkles, and he literally looked at me like, “He, he, he. I played you like a fool, silly mommy.” It was so humorous I snapped a photo of it (see below).
I think back to my Behavioral Psychology class or all of those parenting resource books that say stuff like, “If your child throws a fit in the store, leave your buggy where it is, take your child outside, let him/her pitch the fit, then return to your cart and continue grocery shopping. Don’t give in by bribing or rewarding your child for poor behavior.”
Well, before having two kids, that was my plan. After having two kids, I pat myself on the back for merely making it through the day in one piece. This situation got me thinking about how I survive those days where my nerves are literally to the breaking point.
Five Ways I Survive my ‘Mommy Breaking Point’
- Listen to “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” by Paul Simon. I can’t help but whistle along and whistling releases happy endorphins (according to me at least).
- Kennel the dogs for an hour with a bone. At least two of the noisemakers are out of my hair, and I don’t feel guilty if they have a bone.
- Go outside! Something about just getting the kids out of the house makes everything much better. I grab some Popsicles and bubbles, have a seat, and take yoga breaths while the youngsters have some fun.
- Call a mommy friend and vent. She will invariably tell me a similar story to mine which reminds me we’re all in this fun and chaotic parenthood adventure together.
- The minute the hubs gets home, I sometimes hand off the kids and drive around by myself for a while and again, listen to “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.”
If you know me at all, even from just reading my blog, I adore my boys more than life itself and would do anything for them. The weirdest part is, I know with 100% certainty that as soon as they’re old enough not to need me all that much, I will miss these early stages tremendously. Until then, I am going to enjoy when the going is good and utilize my five go-to survival tools when the going gets rough. For those of you that never reach a breaking point, more power to ya, sista!
Savannah says
Too funny and I lOVE that picture!!!
susannabarbee says
He’s a mess. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it’s pretty funny in retrospect!