Monday, January 10, 2011

Does Supernanny come to Canada?

Whenever my kids are getting under my skin...and I mean REALLY getting under every layer of skin, I always threaten that I'm going to send them away to a country where the children there have no moms and dads, and they have to eat rice every day and live in a mud house. If this seems extreme to you then you aren't the only one. Even I feel guilty after saying that to them, but what I'm really trying to do is get them to respect me, and each other, so that the constant nagging, fighting, and picking at each other will ease to a dull roar...rather than resulting in the shouting match that eventually follows all of this. And truth be told, the kids' shouting is a direct result of my shouting. It's a nasty cycle that is getting better, but still happens.
Just when I think I'm really getting the hang of "practicing my patience", all hell breaks loose and we all go back to square one. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only mother going through this, and have had the guilty pleasure of giving in to crying jags once in a while.
But I know I'm not in this alone. My mom tells me stories of my brother, who would reduce her to tears when he was 8, 9, and 10, and she would have to pawn him off on grandma for the afternoon. I think the frustration just gets to a certain point, for mother and child, and when it finally boils over, a meltdown inevitably follows.
And when you think you are the parent of the worst child in the world, just do what I did last night. Turn on Supernanny. Within minutes you will see that someone else is the parent of the worst children in the world, not you, and then you can breath a sigh of relief.
Mike and I did just that last night, and we looked at each other, looked at our kids, and discovered that our kids are just kids. Certainly not these demons disguised as children on our television.
 We are our children's role models, and if we are loud, expressive, and like to shout (we are a loud family), then our kids will be also. So the change starts with us, not with them.
We are all working together, and it is working.........so far.

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