Why does parenthood have to be so hard? To quote one of my good friends, "Parenthood is a losing battle. And then when God knows you are at your breaking point, he lets 1 tiny little thing go right just to give you a bit of encouragement."
I concur.
Hayden has always been my difficult child, but behind that cantankerous attitude is a loving, sweet little boy. He helps his sister and loves her to pieces. He always has a hug and a kiss for us. He is so smart, too. He has been able to open internet explorer and find his websites on the favorites bar for 2 years. He can finish video games that Dave and I can't. He already knows at least 20 sight words. He can think critically and remembers EVERYTHING.
I have not seen very much of my sweet little boy in the last couple of months. It started at church. He couldn't keep his hands to himself. I thought it was one of the teachers (she gets frustrated easily). Then I thought that one of the other little boys who is naughty was rubbing off on him. I wasn't making excuses for his behavior, but I was trying to find the root of the problem. Then, it spread to school-it was as if an alien had taken over his body. I went through the same search, but couldn't figure it out. Then it progressed to t-ball. When we would ask why he couldn't keep his hands to himself, he would just shrug his shoulders. Then, last weekend, I was at a breaking point. I almost lost it...or what little of it I had left. I had to go to his school last Thursday. Friday was bad and Saturday was worse. No type of punishment would work - spanking, in his room all day, no TV, no video games, taking away rewards, I even threatened to clean all of his toys out of his room. While I was rocking Livee Saturday night, I was thinking that I needed to give Hayden his allergy medicine and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I remembered my mom telling me last year that she had read on some consumer sites about the side effects of Zyrtec on children...two of which are aggressiveness and anger. BINGO.
Needless to say, he hasn't had allergy medicine since last Friday. He seems better. Still a cantakerous 5 year old, but the rays of sweetness are shining through. We're also trying to give him extra attention from each of us, especially at bedtime. So far we have had 2 good days at school in a row. We'll see how t-ball goes tonight. 1 more week of school and then he will be home with me all day. Help me, Jesus.
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