Raising tiny humans is hard…

That’s my kid….running up our road because he got kicked off the school bus….again. 🤦🏻‍♀️ (don’t worry Karen, it’s a private road and I was following closely for the entire 1/2 mile) Why you ask? Because he decided to bully another student. When that student retaliated by flipping a rubber band at him….my kiddo felt it necessary to deck him. Twice. 🤦🏻‍♀️

During our COVID-19 quarantine, I became the warden. Making sure all the kids stayed away from our prisoner upstairs. Currently, I’m the warden to my grounded child. My tiny inmate is struggling to control himself…..so I’m doing my best to help him remember the importance of good behavior. Today’s lesson, if you don’t respect the rules of the school bus, you will run. Your feet don’t carry you quite as fast as the school bus will.

The littlest inmate in the house has always been my spirited child. Strong willed, if you will. For those of you that may be a little slow on the uptake, that’s the politically correct way of saying he can be a bit of an a**hole sometimes. He comes by it honestly, he really does. We can all be a bit of an a**hole on occasion. He had a rough start to life, so I try to give him all the grace. I try to be understanding, we use alternative methods of discipline for him. No matter how much we try, right now….he’s just a lot.

He broke the dryer last week….the new dryer that we just bought 3 months ago. The door opens down, instead of left to right. I’ve repeatedly told him not to stand on it. Naturally, his 90lb self, stood on the door and bent the hinges. I lost my sh*t for a few minutes, then composed myself and set out to fix it. After a few curse words, an adult beverage for my sanity, and some time away from it for a breather….I fixed it. Once it was fixed and my grown up manners returned, I decided to give my tiny inmate a gift. Not because he needs it (he’s plenty tall enough to reach our washer and dryer), more of a visual reminder. One that he will keep forever and take with him to his first home and use forever. 🤣🤣 The sarcasm runs deep in my home.

I would be lying if I said that I’ve got it all together; when it comes to parenting this one….most days I’m at a loss. Most days, I feel like I’m failing him. Especially when the school calls to inform me that he’s acting out there as well. Bullying another kid? I am not raising the mean kid. At least not intentionally.

He starts counseling again next week. He will be running his little legs off until he learns not to bully. He is grounded indefinitely and at this point he may never touch another electronic device until he’s 18. He has scrubbed toilets, done laundry, cleaned baseboards, become the resident dishwasher and used the pooper scooper to clean up the dog 💩 in our yard. Tomorrow he will be writing an essay about bullying.

As the warden and most importantly his mom, it’s my job to teach him. To guide him and mold him into a good man someday. But can I just say….it’s freaking exhausting! Today I’m picking on the littlest inmate, but let me be clear…. both boys test my patience equally. Both in different ways, but both make me question my sanity.

When my oldest was a toddler, I remember saying “I can’t wait for him to grow out of this…I’m so tired!” What I wasn’t prepared for was the other types of exhaustion you deal with as they get older. There is peer pressure, hormones, attitudes, bullying, and an endless supply of dirty laundry. We are being pulled in different directions each night to keep up with school, sports, work and family events. There aren’t enough hours in the day.

This season of life is exhausting friends. But just like a kidney stone….this too shall pass. Until then, if you see my tiny inmate running, honk and wave. We could both use a little encouragement right now. ❤️