Is there such a thing as a mental repetitive stress injury? Maybe you can relate to this, I would think most parents can. Do you feel like your constantly repeating yourself – is it stressing you out and injuring your mental state? If so, then you too may be suffering from a mental repetitive stress injury! It’s hard to avoid when you have children.
So my little angel, #3 boy who’s normally agreeable and adorable keeps teasing #4. It’s really getting on my nerves. The constant whining and resulting screams and tears from #4 is starting to get old. I feel bad for him – he’s only 1 (though he looks 2 and isn’t innocent in the situation either). I find myself repeating myself over and over. “Please be respectful of your brother.”… “Please stop teasing him.”…”Please remember he’s only 1 and be nice.” These are becoming daily mantras for me.
Parenting is difficult. It’s hard to remain neutral when you can see who the instigator is and likewise, it’s hard to discipline the baby of the family. He may be causing trouble, but does he understand? I guess nobody said it would be easy, but I think it’s more challenging to be a parent that follow-through with taking things away or using time-out, than it is to simply be laid back. Having said that, I’m not convinced the laid-back approach works super well. But, that yummy little face on a baby is hard to resist, even when you know he caused the chaos!
What do you do? What works?
