kids are hard

brother & sister together as friends, ready to face whatever life sends.

joy & laughter, tears & strife

holding hands tightly as they dance through life.

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie Just Married.

"You never see the hard days in a photo album, but those are the ones that get you from one happy snapshot to the next."

So very true. I mean who wants to see the grumpy moments? People have said to me before that my kids are always so happy. I always bite back with "oh they definitely have their moments, you don't want to see that!" While that is a true statement and I never see the light at the end of the tunnel during bad moments, I take those comments as compliments! I hope I'm doing this thing called parenting right. I hope my kids look back on their childhood and say, "man we had so much fun when we were little."

Lately, my patience with my kids is running thin. When they act out, I feel a sense of failure within myself that really frustrates me. I have to remind myself they are learning and depend on me to push them in the right direction. They just need guidance. No, it's not always going to be rainbows and butterflies (but it's compromise that moves us alongggg) but to get those happy moments, it takes work. It takes consistency, discipline and learning right from wrong. I don't want my kids walking around like robots with no personality. I want them to be quirky, crazy, funny, adventurous, because that is what being little is all about right?

When I get upset, I try to think how my parents would have handled a situation, how my grandparents would have handled it, etc. Trial and error until something works, everybody is different. I don't want to be the mean mom that screams and yells. I also don't want to be the mom whose kids walk all over her.

I don't ever want to bring down their self esteem by blowing them off or giving them the easy answer to get them to be quiet. I want to be the one that lifts them up. I want to be involved. I don't ever want them to think they can't talk to me or ask me a question. A question that may seem silly to us, is serious to them. And when there are times I feel like I'm going to lose my mind, I need realize they are only little once. These two little babes that my husband and I created will only be small for a short while. And since I'm fixed, spayed - whatever the medically correct term is for humans - I need to soak up these moments. I will never get yesterday back.

I tell my kids a lot each day, that I love them. I never want them to forget it. Ever.

I never forget to ask how their day was and what they did/learned,

We hug often and I always kiss them goodnight.

This was all over the place but I've been thinking about it a lot lately.

How do you handle the hard times with your kids?