Another great piece of advice my sister gave me when I was in the throws of dealing with the terrible twos, which in our case seemed to drag into the fiercesome fours, was:
It is all a phase, the Good and the Bad, so enjoy the good when it is good, and know that the bad will pass.
Since my sister shared this with me, I have heard that Maya Angelou also has written about this and she may be the original author of the thought. The thought has stayed with me through the years and helped me through some of the tougher moments. It also has reminded me to enjoy all the good that comes in life because as we all know, it can go in the blink of an eye.
It is sometimes hard to imagine that when things are in a bad phase, it will pass and get better, I think many of us felt that way during some of months of 2009. It was a hard year for many people and there were some difficult moments. When you have kids, one of the things that you can’t do is fold up your tent and go home…you are home. You are what home, security, love, warmth, safety and happiness are for your kids. You have to get up, put one foot in front of the other and carry on. And you have to believe that you can make it better. Sometimes when things are going wonky it is hard to see the good but it so important to remember what is good in life, that most people are good, most people’s intentions are good and that when the going is good, you need to enjoy it and revel in it.
There are many phases in childhood and likewise many in parenthood…just when you think you can’t get up again in the middle of the night for a feeding, the baby sleeps through the night. Just when you think potty training will never end, they stay dry…just when you think your will never be able to read a book again, you find some free time and apparently, just when you are getting the hang of a phase, they have moved on. The trick is move with them and be where they are, (don’t even think for a minute you will ever get ahead of them, anticipating where they will be at any given moment is a fool’s game!).
When things are going well, I often want to freeze frame that time and will it to be like it is,forever…but to no avail…as I tell my kids, the only constant in life is change. So enjoy the moments of joy and happiness when you have them, know that the rest is “character building”! Do you have any characer building stories to share, or some great advice?
For the Love of Boys 