I remember the day I was standing in the hot shower, shampoo lather in my hair, and one thought stopped me in my tracks, “In just a few weeks the girls will be three! The terrible twos will be over!!” I was almost too over joyed upon thinking of this. Later, when I shared it on Facebook, someone had the audacity to tell me about the “Trying Threes.” It totally crushed my hopes and dreams of compliant, happy little kids. Thankfully, I survived living with two ‘threenagers’ and can tell the tale.
Here we are at age six and if I had to give it a name I’d call it ‘Sassy Six.’ Oh my word the sass. The strong opinions and the absolute knowing mom is just plain wrong. Ya know, the mom who went to college and had a career for over a decade before they were born? She is just dumb and wrong about EVERYTHING. Six is really feeling a whole lot like SIXTEEN! I am sure this too shall pass, but I can’t say with certainty which one of us will make it out alive. (Kidding of course).
In order to deal with it all I use a planned ignoring technique. It goes like this: when my child is listing all the reasons why she can’t do something, like I just don’t know the struggle, I do the dishes and pretend she isn’t having a fit right now. Then, I repeat my instructions to do what I’ve asked as calmly as I can. As if she never lost her mind in the first place. After using this technique for the 14th time in a day on more than one child, a mom could go a little insane. And that’s when I write things like this in my head:
If You Give Your Mom An Attitude
by Roxanne Ferber
If you give your mom an attitude, chances are she will send you to your room. Then she’ll want you to clean it. She’ll tell you to pick up all the toys and put away that pile of clothes. Then she’ll say, “make your bed if you want to go out to play.”
If you give your mom an attitude, chances are you’ll have to go to bed without any dessert. She’ll tell you, “you can’t have any” because her feelings are hurt.
If you give your mom an attitude, chances are you’ll start to feel bad. You’ll wish you never said that and wish you hadn’t made her mad.
If you give your mom an attitude, chances are she’ll love you just the same. She’ll hug you and squeeze you and call you by name. And, chances are you’ll tell her your sister is to blame.
You may notice this is a loose parody of a familiar childhood series (and one of my personal favorites). Obviously, keeping a sense of humor helps when dealing with kid drama. If you missed it, that’s my one tried and true way of coping with the stress of motherhood- humor. I’ve read the If You Give … series a million times to my kids, so naturally it’s easy to recall while I am rage cleaning. Rewording these stories in my head to mimic my reality makes it easier to deal with the brash accusations that I am THE WORST MOM EVER!
How do you survive the kid tantrums at your house?
The Whatever Mom is a twin mom learning to let go of perfection. She shares her real life struggles with parenting through her blog and contributes her time and talents as a writer to Hudson Valley Parent and Masshole Mommy. When she isn’t writing you can find her chugging coffee, folding laundry and not judging other parents. Don’t forget to subscribe via email so you never miss a blog post again! You can also find her work featured on MamapediaÂ
  
   
  
 
33 Comments on If You Give Your Mom An Attitude
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I ignored the tantrums, but we are on to the next phase in our house – tweens. It’s bad with the sass around here. BAD.
I’m really not looking forward to the teen years!
Oh yes the tween and teen years, so much spunk and sassiness. I survived it with one kid and now working on my second whom is far less sassy than his older sister!
You’re lucky there is less sass. I have two at once so it’s all the sass all the time! lol
Attitude is never welcome at home, lol. I think the kids know what’s about to come their way once they start acting up.
6 is the worst! My son was a nightmare at 6 and my daughter is currently an incredibly sassy 6! She definitely knows it all and nothing I say is right. I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with it well, I get into arguments with her all to often. I’ll give your way a try!
So hard to avoid the argument sometimes. Especially when they are so adamant about having things THEIR way.
This made me LOL! This is exactly how things go in our house too!
Thank you for making me feel less alone!! 😉
This is so funny and clever. I hear people say that 3 was worst than 2 but I didn’t feel that way. I think the older they get and the more they can comprehend and understand consequences the easier it gets.
I was not prepared for three at all!
I just had my first son 6 months ago and looking forward to the next ones,but I am not looking forward to any tantrums, lol!
Oh dear. That’s part and parcel of parenting. You’ll learn to navigate around them! 😉 Congrats on the newest little one!
I remember those days. My best tool was to ignore it until my daughter caught on and then would say, you are ignoring me, aren’t you? The gig was up.
My kids realize that I am ignoring them and will accost me for ignoring…which only makes me ignore them even more. lol Then it’s just kind of funny to hear them mumbling under their breath in the other room, “is she seriously ignoring me right now?!” Tee hee.
Yep, my daughter put me through the same thing when she was that age. Problem is, I don’t know that it gets any better.
I’m going to pretend I didn’t just read that. 😉 I have a fantasy that we’ll be besties shopping for shoes and grabbing lunch together soon!
I thought the 12 year olds were way worse than the toddlers. Wow, overnight they turn sassy and know it alls!
Feels like it happens over night right?
This is so cute! My son just turned two, and the tantrums are definitely loads of fun (sarcasm), haha. Guess there really is no end in sight for those terrible “twos” huh?! LOL
I will say some people miss out on the trying threes all together. I think it depends on the child’s personality. Both my children are very strong willed. So we haven’t had an end to the tantrums yet. lol
Haha I feel like when I was a kid I was just quiet and alternated between drawing, picking up sticks in the garden, riding an imaginary pony or cried when people tried talking to me there was no sass in eastern europe in the 90s! Bless xx
I was very sassy. All my life. Not surprising that I gave birth to two humans with the same sense of sass. LOL
My mum always said she would ignored my tantrum and attitude as a kid. She would let me cry it out. x
It seems each year comes with new challenges. lol. Kids who where chill at 2 are a nightmare at 3. But no matter when the attitude shows up, eventually they will grow out of it.
Ha I literally laughed out loud when I got to the story! I have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old (God please help me). The three’s were terrible for us with our oldest but now I’m not very much looking forward to 6.
It’s a pretty fun age until they tell you they know more than you. lol
Ah the joys of being a parent, hey? Haha! I can’t relate however, I’m not one (yet…) but I love hearing these stories. I wonder if my nephews are like this!
I’m surrounded by testosterones – 3 men!! So, yeah, lots of fits and tantrums to handles.
I see what you are saying about six. But, I don’t things change much. My niece is eight and she still acts that way. I agree with you that for some reason, kids this age now think they are teenagers!
I think kids will always try and push their boundaries. I’ve seen tantrums in kids young and old, and heck even in some adults! lol!
My daughter isn’t quite 5 yet and she’s pretty sassy and knows it all! She practically acts like a teenager. ~lol~
I think that having a sense of humor would definitely help haha. Kids can be sassy at any age but I have heard that the sixes can be especially sassy haha x