My friend Janet is a stay at home working mom. In other words, she works from home while also taking care of her daughter. Our daughters are exactly the same age, born exactly on the same day only about an hour and a half apart. To be exact, they're 1 year and 11 months old right now. The first 15 or so months of our daughter's life, I was insanely jealous of Janet. I would love to be able to stay at home with my daughter, but still keep my job. I always imagined myself raising my own children when I had them. Instead, I woke up every single morning, and left my baby girl for 10 hours while a nanny and eventually a daycare watched my child grow up, develop, and do all those cute baby things.
That is....till my daughter started her terrible two's tantrum early. These days, sadly to say, I'm eager to send my child off to daycare (where she behaves like an angel - says her teacher), help her take a nap, or go to bed a little earlier. Before kids; we've all heard about it, but nothing short of experiencing it first hand can really make you understand.
My 22 and a half month child is officially in the midst of her terrible two's tantrum phase. A "no", "stop", or even "later" to her can explicitly cause 15 minutes of screaming that eventually leads to straight out crying. Nothing stops her. And believe me when I say nothing. (Feel free to send those tips away).
I was slowly losing my insanity, till I just realized - I need to "relax" or my child never will. So next time you're in my shoes, try some of these tips. Might not help calm your child down, but at least it'll calm you down enough to have more patience to deal with your little one.
- Breath. You're not a bad mom. Now, hand that little brat over to your partner, and then walk away. Your little brat will continue crying, but nothing you're doing is going to help anyways, so let your partner deal with it for once.
- Change your surroundings immediately. Put on some shoes and a jacket and take your child OUT of wherever you are. He/She will probably forget almost immediately why they started crying to begin with, and find something else that's equally as fascinating.
- Indulge. Keep a handful of "snacks" handy, and just indulge. You just need a little peace and quiet. It's ok to occasionally indulge.
And lastly, just enjoy it. How many of us truly enjoyed the first 6 months of our child's life? Let's be honest, we all rushed it by. Wishing he/she will smile, crawl, walk, and talk already. And now that the terrible two's phase is here, we just wish they'll grow up already huh? Sit back, relax and just enjoy. True, it's not fun - but we'll get through it. Our moms and grandmas did....
...now - let me go ahead and follow my own advice....
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