Life with a toddler is full of extremes. Extreme drama. Extreme emotions. Extreme crying. Extreme tantrums. Extreme parenting. Hell yeah!
One minute your toddler is clinging to you refusing to let go, the next minute he is running away from you refusing to be cuddled. He is full of energy, moves really fast and always running – albeit in the opposite direction to you!
He wants to be with you always, he wants to do everything that you do, yet sometimes he is so full of rage against you that nothing seems to work and you end up feeling like a failure. Living with a toddler is like living with a whirlwind and not only physically, but it can also be emotionally draining.
Handling Your Feelings
There will be times and more than often, your toddler will push you to the extremes and test your limits with his irrational behaviour. Your patience is guaranteed to snap. However, it’s normal to feel alone in this and feeling like a failure.
- Talk to other moms – It’s absolutely understandable if you lose your patience sometimes. Talking with other toddler moms help and you’ll see that you are not alone. However your toddler is behaving, it’s a stage and it’ll pass. Have patience until then and keep talking to other mommies of children of same age group. The feeling of camaraderie can be very empowering at this stage.
- Feeling guilty won’t help – Forgive yourself for your anger. Apologise to your toddler and explain that it was because of what he did and him – that you didn’t like. Hug him and breathe out your anxiety. He will forget about it quickly and to overcome your guilt, try if you can too. Who said life with a toddler will be easy?
Also read Understanding Your Toddler
Take Time for Yourself
Spending quality time with your toddler can be very satisfactory. Doing something that you both enjoy is a very fulfilling experience. Taking bath together, gardening, baking a cake, doing DIY art and craft – are some activities that you can do to feel closer to your toddler.
However, constant demands from your children can be very exhausting. Same day-to-day routine can feel pretty relentless. That’s why it’s also very important that amidst all of this, you take out time for yourself. Spending some time with yourself can restore your energy, make you feel happy and refreshed.
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Talk to an Adult
Try and make sure that you get some adult contact during the day. Talk about your day, latest trends, fashion, politics, relationships – pretty much anything under the sun that interests you, makes you happy and relaxes your mind.
No matter how easy or hard parenthood and parenting seems, we’re all winging it. Going with the flow, trying to be an ideal parent, failing at times, feeling guilty – whatever we feel we’re trying to be the best parent to our children.
There can only be two thumb rules to positive and happy parenting – practice what you preach and always trust your instincts.
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