Single Parenting? No Thanks
Paul is gone this week.
My sister was visiting from Connecticut, but left this evening.
Dealing with the S.C.R.E.A.M.I.N.G child at bed time was easier when there was another adult in the house. It obviously helped me keep my cool, but it was also nice to just be able to walk in another room and not have someone YELLING AT ME. AND REQUIRING EVERY LAST OUNCE OF MY TIME AND ENERGY AND SOMETIMES NOT EVEN THAT IS ENOUGH.
Right now, the child is "crying it out" in the only room that she can't get herself out of... which also happens to be the bedroom the other two kids normally sleep in. The other two are in my room tonight, and the third one COULD be, if she would just STAY there. Without screaming.
They were all in the living room last night, and so SCREAMING child was also sent to the bedroom when she decided to have a fit.
And if it isn't enough that I have a screaming child on my hands, I am already wondering how, logistically, this is going to work out in the future because the other kids will, at some point, have to start sleeping in their room again.
She doesn't want me to leave her. She never had this problem until we moved her out of the crib... which was the perfect place for letting a child cry it out. Until, of course, they have such a tantrum that they actually kick one of the spindles clear out of the crib and then can crawl out of it at will. This happened one day in a non-bedtime related tantrum. And we kept using the crib, which she happily stayed in during sleeping times, but would immediately crawl out of when placed there to have out her tantrum.
And I just don't know what to do anymore. Is she upset Paul is gone? Do I just cut her some slack and sit with her until she falls asleep? Or will that just make it harder to break her of the habit in the future... when there is no place to put her from which she can't escape?
Of course this doesn't even address the part about "Hi, I have been with you nonstop ALL. DAY. LONG. And now it's eleven o'clock and I am going to need just a few minutes to myself before I go to bed or I might just lose my last shred of sanity, thank you very much."
And I'm supposed to exercise tonight too.
Which, under any other circumstance, I would welcome the reprieve from. But tonight it makes me just a wee bit angry...........................
My sister was visiting from Connecticut, but left this evening.
Dealing with the S.C.R.E.A.M.I.N.G child at bed time was easier when there was another adult in the house. It obviously helped me keep my cool, but it was also nice to just be able to walk in another room and not have someone YELLING AT ME. AND REQUIRING EVERY LAST OUNCE OF MY TIME AND ENERGY AND SOMETIMES NOT EVEN THAT IS ENOUGH.
Right now, the child is "crying it out" in the only room that she can't get herself out of... which also happens to be the bedroom the other two kids normally sleep in. The other two are in my room tonight, and the third one COULD be, if she would just STAY there. Without screaming.
They were all in the living room last night, and so SCREAMING child was also sent to the bedroom when she decided to have a fit.
And if it isn't enough that I have a screaming child on my hands, I am already wondering how, logistically, this is going to work out in the future because the other kids will, at some point, have to start sleeping in their room again.
She doesn't want me to leave her. She never had this problem until we moved her out of the crib... which was the perfect place for letting a child cry it out. Until, of course, they have such a tantrum that they actually kick one of the spindles clear out of the crib and then can crawl out of it at will. This happened one day in a non-bedtime related tantrum. And we kept using the crib, which she happily stayed in during sleeping times, but would immediately crawl out of when placed there to have out her tantrum.
And I just don't know what to do anymore. Is she upset Paul is gone? Do I just cut her some slack and sit with her until she falls asleep? Or will that just make it harder to break her of the habit in the future... when there is no place to put her from which she can't escape?
Of course this doesn't even address the part about "Hi, I have been with you nonstop ALL. DAY. LONG. And now it's eleven o'clock and I am going to need just a few minutes to myself before I go to bed or I might just lose my last shred of sanity, thank you very much."
And I'm supposed to exercise tonight too.
Which, under any other circumstance, I would welcome the reprieve from. But tonight it makes me just a wee bit angry...........................
Labels: Muddlehood
posted by 
at 10:40 PM
4 Comments:
Aw man, do I remember going through that! I'm so sorry!
Oh, I empathize! How I empathize! My DH had a job where he was home for two weeks and gone for two weeks. The "gone" weeks were some of the longest EVER!
I'm sorry I don't have practical advice for you. Now that mine are a little older, sometimes I'll tell them, "I'm off duty for the next 15 minutes. No one is allowed to ask me for anything." I don't know if that would work with younger ones though. :(
Oh, this is just bad. I remember those times and I'm sorry you are having to suffering through them too.
And since your heartbeat has probably been on a steady high lately and you're single parenting, I'd say you can cut the exercise. Your heart probably feels as if its going through low aerobics anyway.
Being a single parent is the worst, especially when a child is going through a horrendously difficult phase.
I agree with Shalee about the exercise! That kind of stress is way more exhausting than Tae-Bo.
Post a Comment
<< Home