Yelly McYellerpants

So my fellow mommies, have you ever had a day where no matter how sweetly, lovingly, yet firmly you ask your children to do something, they seem to look right through you?  You know, those moments when those faces are blank and looking at you as if you couldn't possibly be speaking to them? That kind of day? If we are willing to admit it, we all have those days, more often than we'd like to.

  When I had kids, since I waited so long for them, and prayed so hard to have them, I told myself, I don't want to be like "THAT" screamy mommy in the Wal Mart or the grocery store yelling at little Jimmy or little Susie at the top of her lungs...threatening their little lives if they don't settle down.  "Oh my...I will NEVER yell at MY kids that way...EVER!".  I honestly felt that way.  I was mortified when I heard women yelling at their kids.

Fast forward to now.  I have beautiful 8 year old daughter, and an adorable 6 year old son. These children are my world! They are so different from one another, and the ways in which I interact with them to achieve cooperation is greatly varied.  My little girl is a highly intelligent, strong willed, and an independent problem solver. No matter what I ask her to do, she generally offers her opinion as to how she thinks it should be done, or tries to negotiate into doing things her way.  This doesn't bode well with the parental units who just want their children to do as they are told.  Though my sweet girl rarely received a booty whoopin' when she was little, lately, she is playing catch up. Her defiance pushes me to my limits and I get pretty fired up when she is deliberately argumentative.  The boy....ah, the boy....my son is the epitome of all that a little brother is supposed to be.  If I had a dollar for every time I had to utter some strange sentence like "Stop licking your sister's arm!" or, "Do not open the shower door and pee on your sister while she is bathing!", I would be a rich woman.  He is my handful.  He is always getting in trouble, always tormenting his sister, always doing strange things, and always keeping me on edge.

  Through all of the day to day irritation, I try to keep "my chill", but there is always at least one moment during the week where the daughter is screeching something in a voice so whiney and high pitched that dogs everywhere are in agony, and the boy is into something that deserves yet another whoopin', and that is when I go from upset mommy to Yelly McYellerpants.  It's at that point I have flashbacks to before I was a mommy and all the judgemental things I thought of the mommies in the store and I feel terrible for the times I judged mommies without knowing the full story.

The truth is, none of us want to be Yelly McYellerpants, but even the most chilled out mommy in the world has a breaking point. Let's support each other, and encourage one another!  Next time you see a Yelly McYellerpants at a store, don't judge the mom, but wonder what those little boogers Jimmy and Susie did to push her past her chill zone....