special treats

please join Jennerific (that's me!) in welcoming Sarah, our very first TFOC guest poster!

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of ultrasound technician schools. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.

Of Tantrums, Toddlers and Transgressions
A Mom’s Tale

There are numerous times when I wish I was single, footloose and fancy-free, and one of them is when my two-year-old throws a tantrum. Believe me, he can get really loud and extremely adamant when he decides to go into one of his horror moods. His dad is one lucky guy, cause my little one somehow seems to reserve his tantrum sessions just for me, when he’s away at work. And if I call him to vent my frustration, he proves me a liar by behaving like a perfect angel from the moment he walks in the door.

Adam throws tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants, and of late, he seems to want everything that he sets his eyes on. It’s the toughest job in the world to take my kids shopping (I also have a daughter who’s seven). While my elder one knows by now what I will and will not buy her, it’s a constant struggle to keep my toddler from picking up stuff and stuffing them under his arm, safe from my prying hands. Forcibly removing them leads to an all-out tantrum where he throws himself face down on the floor and bawls his heart out. I really wish I could crawl under a rock and remain there the rest of my life when I see the other mothers with angelic children shoot daggers at me, knives that twist in my heart and say, “Bad mom, bad mom.”
How do you prevent your kids from throwing tantrums? By buying them all that they ask for? Or is there some magic formula that other mothers use to keep their kids in line when they go shopping? Somehow, I seem to be the only mom who can’t control her kids when I take them out.

My frustration levels reached a new high when both my kids decided to act up when we visited the supermarket for groceries. Between them, they managed to pull down an entire section of cans and earned me disdainful looks as we were escorted out of the store. I was in a right and royal temper as I drove home, and by the time we were there, my kids had sobered down enough to realize that I was truly and genuinely upset.

I left them to their own devices, something I do very rarely, and began to prepare dinner. Very soon, I heard the pitter patter of little feet, and my two-year-old poked his head through the kitchen door with a heart-tugging “Mommy, we’re sorry”. He was followed by his sister, and they both insisted that I come up to their room for some reason. Once there, I was rendered speechless – my kids had drawn a card for me that proclaimed in loud, colorful letters, “We love you Mommy”. I didn’t have the heart to scold them, even though the writing was all on the wall!

Yes, kids can do that to you – make you alternate between intense joy and great anger; they can make you laugh and cry at the same time; and they can also make you tear your hair out in frustration even as they make you laugh out loud at their antics. It’s another matter that I had to stay up half the night to wash my walls clean, but one thing I do know for sure is that without my kids, my life would be totally meaningless!