Charlize Theron recently made the news for having her patience tested by her son, and she was criticized by many for her reaction to his behavior. I would like to know if any of those criticizing her have ever tried to coax a toddler mid tantrum to walk to where they want them to go. Any parent can back me up here and corroborate my description. It's like trying to coax a 40 pound Jell-O jiggler back into its mold. I'm not as high profile as Charlize Theron, and I can't say if her reaction was wrong or right. I was not there, but I can definitely relate. Although higher profile and paparazzi-chased, she is HUMAN, just like the rest of us.

It was one of those days. One of the days I had to go back in the house 3 times before I could leave for the appointment I was already running late to get to. The mailbox was full of bills and bank account was near empty. My 4 year old was full of energy and I was running low on patience. Speaking of running low, so was the fuel gauge in the car. One more stop to make me that much later. When we arrive at the appointment, 10 minutes late, I knew we had just rushed to wait, and a 4 year old's ability to wait isn't even in the early stage of development at this point. An hour later, we leave starving because we didn't have time to eat breakfast and its 11:30. So now we are both hangry, tired of rushing, tired of waiting, and very impatient. That's when it happened. Her little face shifted into a twisted downward shape and the salty tears of a sweet heartbroken child brought me back to reality. I yelled at her. And before I was even finished with my loud, "Give me just a minute," I already regretted it with the heaviest of hearts. For nothing more than asking me, "Where is my movie case?" I did it. I crushed her spirit, even if only for a brief 60 seconds, that was 60 seconds more than she deserved. I refuse to pretend I'm the über patient mom who NEVER loses it, when the questions get extremely excessive on top of everything else that could go on or go wrong in a less than 24 hour period. Excessive questions and occasional whining on a normal day are the beautiful growth occurrences that all children go through and most mothers take with a grain of salt and a smile. But on days like today, when I'm spread so thin I feel transparent, yet my clothes are so tight, I can't breathe (that's a whole different topic), I took one simple question like a blow with a sledgehammer. I shattered the one person who thinks I'm beautiful just the way I am and cries, "But I love you just the way you are," when I even mention losing weight. The one person who say, "You're the best cooker EVER," when I bring her a juice box and microwaved cup of mac and cheese. The one person who knows me inside out, literally, and still looks up at me with beautiful dark tear filled eyes 60 seconds after I obliterated her tiny little world, and says, "I'm sorry mommy. You're the best MOM EVER."
I don't care who you are, you are kidding yourself and not fooling anyone else if you say you have never had a day like this. One kid or six kids, rich or poor, liberal or conservative, perfectionist or perfect storm, it's happened to you. You don't have to admit it, because we've all been there, in the privacy of our cars, or in our homes, we've all had to step back and take a moment. We've all been spread way too thin between finances, kids, work (God bless both the working and stay at home moms and dads equally), dividing our time and affections between our partners and our kids (another topic that deserves a huge open discussion), keeping our homes in order all the time (EPIC fail for me), and the list can go on infinitely. Days like today are the days we need to step back a moment, be thankful for those little blessings AND troubles, acknowledge what we do wrong AND right, and work to be better. I could start by getting up earlier so we aren't rushed. That one small thing could have changed the tone of the entire day. Thankfully, in her eyes, I'm still "the best mommy EVER." Even when we aren't perfect in our own eyes or the world's, to them we are the BEST, and we are human, and so are they. Learn from the mistakes, and love the mess we sometimes call life. We only have one. ❤️