Regaining Control

I happen to have a bossy little 4 year old (almost 5 year old).  She senses weakness and pounces.  When I am not at my best, feeling sick, or tired, or just sad, she quickly rushes in to take control.  And that is usually not a good thing, because, well, she's four.  Before I know it, I find that she seems to be running the show.  Sometimes that is her destroying the house, sometimes it is talking back, sometimes its whining.  Again, generally not good.

It's amazing how quickly we can feel like we've lost control as parents.  It can make us feel like we are at the whim of our kids' moods and behaviors.  Sometimes this pattern goes on for so long that we feel like it has become the norm.  We think to ourselves, "Oh that's just kids."  But it doesn't have to be that way.  We can, in fact, be more in control that we realize.

I recently wrote an article in a local newspaper about how we can do this as parents. . .

Article on regaining control

It can be as simple as stated in the article, but because we are tired and stressed, we make it more complicated that it needs to be.