A Sweet Family Activity Gone Sour

Today felt like my final exam for being a parent (Ok with the age of our kids it is not even an early mid-term but it was a test nonetheless).  In a two hour period I had to deal with all the highs and lows of a child’s emotional range times three.  There was excitement early as I organized our activity followed by Euphoria as the goal became evident.  The kid’s lessons for the day included cooperation, manners, and self control.  Early successes were quickly forgotten when they discovered instant satisfaction was right at their fingertips.  I had to react quickly and dig deep into my conflict resolution tool bag to keep the peace. Part way through our planned activity I had an opportunity to leave the task partially completed but confident enough that I was now in control I decided to push on.  Just as I thought I was going to make it unscathed the affects of the earlier satisfaction started to hit and my powers started to diminish.   I was now frantic to finish before this turned into an epic disaster.  I gave in to their cries for more just to buy the last bit of time needed to complete this task.  I just made it.  I may have barely passed my test but I learned a valuable lesson.  I will not bake cookies with all three kids again.  At least nap time came quickly for the twins and we shipped Annika off to Preschool for her teacher to deal with her sugar rush.