Teaching kids to be patient is a strange thing.
Our youngest son, who is two years old, can get very clingy.
When doing dishes this morning, he came running up to me crying.
Begging me to stop and sit with him, he hugged my legs tightly, pleading his case.
I need to teach him to be patient.
But I also don’t want him to feel like I don’t care about his needs.
It’s a fine balance I’m still trying to find as a parent.
Stopping and bending down to his height, I scoop him up in a big hug.
I tell him I hear him.
I repeat his request and remind him we will go sit together when I am finished with my job.
I put him back down.
I show him how to hug himself.
I ask him to breathe in and out slowly to calm himself down while I finish my job.
He was still sobbing but I had to follow through on the boundary I had set with him.
I had to finish this job, and then I could sit with him
It’s getting a little better each day with him.
But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t emotionally drained by the end of the day.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a two year old boy in our family.
I had forgotten how challenging this age is.
They are constantly testing boundaries and can’t emotionally regulate themselves.
It’s a lot to handle.
I’m doing my best.
I’m trying to stay patient.
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