i've created a monster

wow. i debated on writing all of this down - mostly because just reading about it will never do the moment justice... there's something about hearing exasperation in an octave-higher-than-normal voice from a 7-year old.


The other night, after a very long day, noah had pushed us to our limits. a lot of whining about homework, cleaning his room, having to take a shower, etc., etc. made us very ready for him to get to bed. At one point we had snapped at him for dragging his feet in getting to the bathroom and brushing his teeth. (why is it impossible for a 7-year old to brush his teeth well? seriously, how can he go brush his teeth and still have food in them? it drives me crazy!) anyway - after about 20 seconds him comes walking into the kitchen asking aaron a question - while brushing his teeth. that was aaron's last straw.


aaron: (in a rather loud voice) NOAH! get your butt into that bathroom RIGHT now and start brushing your teeth!!!

noah went totally still as he looked at aaron and then he took the toothbrush out of his mouth and in this exasperated high voice says: IS THIS IT? IS THIS MY CHILDHOOD??? (pause) is this my childhood where my dad is just going to yell at me all the time????? (now he's staring at aaron waiting for an answer)

aaron - trying with all his might to not start laughing, turns around.

noah: is it dad? is this what my childhood is like?

aaron: no, noah. your childhood is not with your dad yelling at you all the time.

noah: good. (pause) then you should say you're sorry.

aaron: (still trying not to laugh, feels it's best to just end the conversation) i'm sorry noah.

And noah goes to bed happy, with comforts of knowing his childhood will not be scarred for life.



One would think it ends there.... but oh, no. not with noah. the next day, after school noah decides to come up with a punishment chart for the family because we "fight and yell too much".

my favorite is #4 - Getting mad at someone when no one did anything = no breakfast



to finish this post - let me end with tonight's conversation. noah couldn't find his coat and got really mad because it wasn't hung up on his door where he'd put it. instead of asking where it was he began yelling about someone moving it. (i was tempted to ask him if this is what my parenthood was going to be like - him always yelling at me. but, then i remembered it's best not to stoop to their level when you're trying to maintain control.) Aaron immediately put noah on his bed for yelling and that led to quite the meltdown. once noah was calmer, i had a big talk with him and told him that even when we're angry, we can still be respectful. his reasoning was that he would never have had to get mad if we would have left his coat alone and so it was our fault. i then went on to tell him that things will happen in life at home, school, work, etc. and we'll feel angry, but we still need to stay calm and respectful. eventually he said he understood and that was that.


fast forward 2 hours. noah comes out from brushing his teeth to tell me there's a problem. he spilled the whole bottle of mouthwash on the floor. (this is the second time this has happened in the last week). completely irritated, i headed to the bathroom.

me: noah, i'm getting tired of you playing around in the bathroom and knocking things over!

noah: i'm sorry mom, it was an accident.

me: i know -that's what you said the last time - but you NEED to be more careful. now get in your room and go to bed while I clean up YOUR mess. (i know i should let him clean it up, but it's this blue stuff and i didn't want it to stain - part of why i was so impatient with him)

while i'm cleaning up the floor, i look into noah's room and see him on his bed praying.
(for the love!) after a minute, i hear him behind me.

noah: (in this totally calm, quiet voice) mom, i know you're upset - and that's ok. sometimes bad things happen, but you can still handle it in a calm way. I think Heavenly Father would want you to be calm and patient even when you're angry. I think you should think about that for a minute and see if you can handle this situation better.

honestly - i have created a monster.