Today I don’t want to be Mom- From the Trenches of Motherhood

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Today is hard. Nothing in-particular has gone drastically wrong; sometimes it’s just hard.

My 3 1/2 year old is acting his age and throwing milestone-appropriate tantrums and fits. His demands are rapid-fire and they are many. He feels everything VERY deeply and wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Like, for example…his favorite socks are in the dirty laundry. I mean, SWEET MOTHER-OF-PEARL, his favorite Paw Patrol socks are in the dirty laundry and therefore, are unavailable for him to wear! CLEARLY, I have failed him as a mother. In the midst of my own frustration, I actually kind of marvel at how it is possible that a preschooler has mastered the art of emotional warfare and psychological manipulation in only 3 short years. I vacillate between being impressed and fearful…

Also currently happening is my 11 month old crawling at lightning speed, in search any potential chokable or bacteria-laden item he can apparently manifest out of thin air and thrust in his mouth. The highlight of such cunning being how he slipped into the bathroom and orally explored the toilet brush before I could intervene. I shudder to my core.

It’s been a really long day. I want to curl up in bed and watch nonsense and ignore the huge responsibility of raising these little people into functional adults. I want to take a mommy mental health day. I wonder if the preschooler would take a therapist’s note and give me the day off…?

Today, in particular, feels like it will never end. We’ve been playing dinosaur doctor for 5 hours, since the preschooler woke up at 7:00. It’s almost noon NINE A.M.?! HOW IS THAT ACCURATE?! Are we in some kind of domestic time warp?

PLEASE. SEND HELP. 

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Tara Elder
Tara grew up in Jasper, IN, graduated from Indiana University with a degree in psychology and moved to Indianapolis where she met her husband, John. Over the next several years, Tara worked from sun up to sun down, racing toward professional burnout before realizing that there had to be another way. The chaos was maddening. In 2011 She hired a career consultant that told her she would be an excellent entrepreneur. Within the year and with the help of that career consultant, she started her own company, Simply Helpful. Tara’s goal with Simply Helpful is to reduce stress and minimize chaos for others in their businesses and organizations. Visit www.simply-helpful.com to learn more. In April of 2013, Tara and John had their first son, Jack and in January of 2016, Tara and John welcomed a second son, Wesley to the family. Tara has found the work/life balance she was craving for all of those years and loves helping others discover ways to ease their crazy. For the last 10 years, John and Tara have lived on the east side of Indianapolis in the neighborhood of Irvington, which is not just a community; it’s a state of mind.

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