The Energizer Bunny

The energizer bunny has nothing on a child who is wound up from a day of playing with friends, going to a party or traveling in car all day.  The list goes on.  Unfortunately, as a Mom your energy is depleted by the very activities that excite your child.  When your child has friends over you are constantly picking up after them, preparing "snacks", cleaning up after the "snacks" or refereeing minor skirmishes while trying to accomplish your daily goals.  Those goals might be:  teaching other children if you home school or if you work from home, calling clients.  You might be trying to clean your home or prepare a "real" meal for the family.  By the time the play date is over you are exhausted, but your child is flying high ready to conquer new worlds.  My Mom used to say "They are bouncing off the walls" and I think that just about describes it.  

This situation is a ticking time bomb.  Your tired and they are not!  Children are like military strategists; they sense your weakness and they attack.  Every request turns into an argument. They know you are struggling and the feel your frustration, but do they back off and obey?  No, the skirmish turns into a battle and if you are not careful the battle can quickly turn into a war.  A dear friend who encouraged me as I raised my children taught me to pick my battles, so ultimately I could win the war.   This sounds very easy, but I can testify it is not!  Sometimes you just want instant obedience without the battle and you are ready and willing to go to war to accomplish this.   But wars are bloody and someone always gets hurt; so ask yourself is it worth a war?  Can I find a way to retreat today and come back to the battle another day when I am rested and my child is not exhausted and reacting to outside stimuli?

I have found that the time to discipline my children is not when I am tired and cranky, but when I am refreshed.  As my children grew I learned a very valuable lesson:  tired children misbehave.  But the interesting thing about a tired child is that the more exhausted they become the more energetic they appear.  They can literally run in circles.  They do not want to go to sleep, rest, sit down, or watch TV.  They will not do anything that would allow their body to give into the rest it craves.  So they kick it up another notch and play harder, so they do not fall asleep and miss a moment of life.  Wow, think about that for a minute a child does not want to miss one moment of life because they enjoy it.  They relish every moment and are not willing to give up even one to rest.  

So, Moms I encourage you to allow them to enjoy the moments and realize when you are exhausted and they are "bouncing off the walls" that they are exhausted too. Any battle that occurs at that time usually ends in tears for both you and your child.  Sometimes there is no avoiding the battle, but if there is a way out, take it and fight the battle another day!