Terrible Therrible Thursdays

[One day late due to one long tantrum that caused all of us to collapse in a heap at about 9:30pm last night. I never awoke to finish my blog entry.]

Today is the day when I write something about my kids. It’s not always terrible, but life with a 3-year old is generally unpredictable and chaotic. Her mood swings alone could drive anyone mad. People always said I was a moody and melodramatic person, but I never thought that was a “bad” thing … until now.

I don’t want to say a lot of negative stuff about my own daughter, but I will say that each day brings new challenges along with the same old things. I keep thinking, “Gosh darn it. I forgot the cup again!” These things seem so very important to her and are cause for huge tantrums, whining and screaming.

I often wonder if she is normal for a 3-year old. And, if she is not, then Yusuke and I wonder about our parenting skills. A little while ago, someone told me that everyone makes mistakes in parenting. I’ll have to look up his advice again because it was valuable. But, one piece of advice this guy gave me was to read the book “Children Learn What They Live.” It’s based on a poem by Dorothy Law Nolte. This poem was written in the 70s and then later expanded into a book for parents. I bought the Japanese version as well so that Yusuke could read it. We learned a lot from it, but it is hard to always be a good example for your kids. There are times when I am yelling, “Don’t yell!” at her. It makes no sense. Of course she is going to yell at me if I yell at her.