Staying Composed in Frustrating Situations…

Last night my beautiful 10 month old daughter decided she did not want to sleep at her normal bed time of 9:30-10pm. From past experiences, my wife and I knew that if she did not sleep at her regular scheduled time, she will be overly exhausted, cranky, angry, and will be falling her toys playing before she will go to sleep. We tried our normal routine tactics as well as every other trick in the book to try and put her to bed, however she was quite adamant about not sleeping. The battle went on for nearly 4 hours from 9:30pm to about 1:15am (which was NOT the worst night we have had). Were we frustrated? Of course, but it is how you handle the frustration which will set you apart from being a good parent and being a great parent.

This post is not necessarily about my little monster of a daughter =) but it is more about the struggle and frustrations that every parent goes through in everyday situations, whether it may be with your children not falling asleep, not eating their vegetables, getting into trouble, or just simply bugging you. The most important thing to remember is they are children… They did not ask to be in this world, we decided to bring them here and therefore we should be patient and understanding at all times (even if it means losing some much needed sleep). Being able to maintain the level of frustration and anger during the rough times will lead you to that serene place we all so much desire.