A couple of weeks ago for FHE we talked about the WANT MONSTER. I'm sure he visits your house as often as he does ours. His job is to sit on our shoulder and try to get us to do what we want instead of what we should. If he wins, we usually have some kind of bad consequence. We learned a formula for beating the WANT monster.
STAD.
Stop,
Think,
Ask yourself what will happen if you do this or that,
Do the right thing.
It seems to have been a really effective lesson unless the moment is emotionally charged.
This week has not been one of my finer weeks of mothering. Maybe it's that I'm so tired cause we've had sick kids all week which means no rest for mommies. Maybe it's the new medication I'm on for my shoulder that makes me dizzy. Maybe it's the latest bout of deprivation to lose a few more pounds. Whatever it is, I have not been the best of mothers this week.
Today the WANT MONSTER visited our home early. There's me trying to get the girls dressed so we can go to the playgroup at the park which started 30 minutes ago.......there's the girls who want to go to the park, but also have their own agenda and don't understand that if we don't go now....it will be over. There's me desperate to go get them out of the house and visit with some adults. I tell them to quickly go potty as our local park has no bathrooms. They put up the biggest fight about how they don't need to go right now, blah blah blah......the WANT MONSTER is shouting in their ears. Then he jumps over to my shoulder and says....you don't really want to force it right now, it'll be fine. Don't make them go. You're already late. So we all get dressed, shoes on, water bottles filled, in the stroller and we're off. Maili has been having issues with her bike and the training wheels all summer. Every time I go to fix it, she throws a fit (WANT MONSTER) and so I don't fix it. As we're walking to the park, her bike is giving her grief and she starts complaining.....then I, in my so NOT patient voice, start lecturing about how she needs to listen to me and let me fix her bike.....I'm pushing her, urging her, snapping at her all the way to the playground. (half way there, she decides to ditch the bike which leaves me carrying it while pushing the stroller......it's getting hotter and my mood is getting hotter too. We get to the park finally, okay Kristi, we're here. It's fine. Literally 3 minutes there and Maili tells me she needs to go potty....1 minute later, Haeli has an accident. Back in the stroller with Maili crying cause we're going home....I'm still lecturing and tears are welling up in my eyes as I listen to my voice as I talk to my children. (WANT MONSTER) We're almost home and Maili says, um Mommy, I couldn't hold it anymore. Are you freaking kidding me? I'm beyond any lectures now, we keep walking. Maili picks a dandelion for me....Haeli wants to pick one too. Maili picked them all. Haeli gets out of the stroller and stands there in front of the neighbors house and wails. I keep walking thinking she'll follow. She doesn't. I go back and pick her up but she doesn't like how I'm holding her cause I don't want to touch the pee.
We get home and they both go in a coldish shower. I calm down and we have a big talk about how the WANT MONSTER has won over our house today. Has he won yours?
SIGHHHHHHHHH
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