We’ve had quite a weekend. Yesterday, I removed every toy and fun-related item from the girls’ room. The reason? At 10:45, fifteen minutes before their swimming lessons started, they were having meltdowns, arguing with me, hitting each other and in general making it impossible to leave the house to make it to the lessons in time.
So I gave up trying to leave and instead put both girls to bed (yes, in bed at 10:45AM) and then proceeded to remove all their toys, games, and other items I know they enjoy playing with and I locked all that stuff up in the guest room. The guest room is now overflowing with toys and junk, but the girls’ room is surprisingly neat for once…
It was one of those motherhood moments that I hate, the moment when I have to play the tyrant. I’m very good at playing tyrant. “Do what I tell you to do now or there WILL be consequences, young lady!” I can get loud and scary at the drop of a hat and make my kids cry when they don’t behave. And I know it’s a necessity at times because in the end, the goal of motherhood is to produce civilized human beings who will contribute something useful to society, and we all know kids are as far from civilized or human beings as we can get so us moms have our work cut out for us. Still, it’s a lot more fun being the mom who hands out kisses and cookies than it is being the mom who thunders so loudly that chunks of plaster fall from the ceiling.
The kids spent most of yesterday in their room while I went about venting my irritation (okay, it was outright anger because really, how hard is it to get into a bathing suit and go to the Y? And how many times do I have to tell these kids to get into their bathing suits NOW or else?)… Where was I? Oh yeah, venting my irritation/anger into house cleaning. I got a lot of laundry folded and a lot of stuff picked up and put away (though not any of the kids’ toys in the guest room; that mess is going to take weeks to sort out now), and I still felt angry and guilty as hell when the Hubster came home. However, Hubster agreed with me that if the kids couldn’t keep their acts together long enough to get into swimsuits and out the door, especially in light of other numerous behavior issues we’ve had lately, then clearing out their room and sending them to bed was the best possible outcome I could have devised that morning.
Or as he didn’t say, “Honey, at least you didn’t kill them!”
But that was yesterday and this is today. Mother’s Day, in fact. And today my children are all about kisses and handmade cards and opening presents and going out for Italian ices (with only a little foot dragging when it comes to things like putting away their laundry and making their beds). Today they are my darling angels again and I can be calm and kind and the dispenser of kisses and cookies. I don’t know how long this will last, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there. And good luck with producing your civilized human beings who will make a worthwhile contribution to society.
