I joined Bloggy Moms a long time ago and honestly, have just been “stalking” the site. I finally decided to stop “stalking” and to actually participate so I’ve joined The Blog Dare, where a writing prompt is sent every day. Don’t think I’ll be able to write every day, but I’ll do it as often as possible. Today’s prompt is: Saying No.
There are days when I feel I’m constantly saying no to my kids…and I feel horrible about it. Those are the days when it seems like my daughter especially is constantly questioning…whether it’s questioning life in general, asking questions about something she saw in a program she’s watching (especially difficult for me to answer when she’s watching her science-, technology- or engineering-related shows…which is often! Thank goodness for Google!), and asking questions as to why I’m doing certain tasks in my regular routine, which can be very frustrating when they are routines I’ve done their entire lives – why would she be questioning them now?!
I’ll admit that, after she’s been asking me questions constantly for HOURS on end, I just turn to her and tell her “I don’t care! (And the Mom of the Year Award is presented to…ME!) I just don’t care what the answer is right now because I need to concentrate on… (making you dinner, getting your brother to bed, etc) and you asking me questions every 30 seconds means I can’t do those things.” Hopefully she knows that I’ve just lost my patience and need her to just STOP TALKING! 5 minutes, that’s all I’m asking! She knows she talks A LOT and I find that really difficult sometimes to deal with.
When we have these kinds of days, I make sure that we talk about it during her bedtime routine. Her brother is already in bed (and usually asleep) so it’s quiet time, just her and I. I started this alone time after her dad and I split because I realized that there were days when I had to focus so much on her brother’s needs that I hadn’t been able to pay attention to her. We can talk during our quiet time about how we BOTH need to work on our communication tomorrow, that we still love eachother, have lots of cuddles, and that tomorrow will be a better day.
