Another tough parenting night
Ages 5 and 3 are really pushing me…
5 year old (boy) is constantly overstimulated, high energy, touchy…
3 year old (girl) is angry over everything and refuses to potty train.
I feel like I have lost my 30’s in poopy butts and sleepless nights. It’s hard. Also harder when you have no family around.
We’ve tried to hire help, evening babysitters, etc., but no one seems to be reliable enough to stick around.
I’m also trying to grapple with the fact that I’m 38 years old. How did that happen? Everything feels like just yesterday and a thousand years ago at the same time.
I always say I’ll be more patient and work on myself but sometimes I just feel like I’m not patient enough for it. Ugh. I want to be the best parent I can be but I feel like I’m trapped right now, suffocating with no escape. And that’s really really tough.
Much love,
~Elle
Raising kids is tough, and especially so without family nearby (been there.) It does get better and you will find yourself again when they get older. Your reward will come later as you see your children into adulthood and see what wonderful respectable people they’ve become.
I’m in my 60s now and finally catching up on all the grown up movies I missed in my 30s when my life was dominated by Disney and Sesame Street and poopy butts and constant messes and exhaustion.
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I remember those days. Know that you’re not alone in the feelings you’re feeling, they’re quite normal. I also raised my children hundreds of miles away from family. It’s hard, and boy those years do fly! Try to take mental snapshots of the special moments that come out of nowhere. Those babies will be adults before you know it. Mine are 25 and 19 now (I’m 46) and I’m still sitting here stunned that that this old and they’re that old. I miss their snuggly, snotty, whiny, poopy selves SO MUCH.
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