It’s me. I am that woman. I am sinner. Hear me roar.

I ask others to join me in my peace-filled faith. “Harmony” I promise you. “Harmony” will come if you simply listen to God’s word.

My eldest told me he takes so long in the bathroom simply because it’s quiet there. I agree. All moms know that the only peace is in the bathroom. Until some kid slams the door open.

To truly live my faith… to live as if God was in charge… would mean refraining from yelling at my kids when they simply act like the same obnoxious kid I was to my own mother.

I’m far too proud to do such a thing as accept the failures of those from who I expect perfection. “You, my child, must be perfect as I am not.”

Yes, that’s mean. The angry Christian. A role model to none. So, what are my choices?

I can:

1. expect them to irritate me and then not get upset
2. accept that they will be irritating sometimes and deal with it by patiently correcting them
3. expect reasonable behavior, but give them the time and attention they need to understand why they’re doing it

Option 1 sounds like “kids will be kids and monsters will be monsters.” That’s how you wind up with entitled whiners as your offspring. Nope.

Option 2 is what has failed for me so far. Er, I patiently correct them the first 3 times and then it comes out as a scream.

Option 3 seems to have worked for me in the past, based not on their behavior, but on my own capacity to listen to them. Case in point, the same whiny tantrum which made me scream today, I handled with ease when I wasn’t also trying to work/cook dinner.

If I’m to be honest, it’s my terrible habit of multi-tasking that leads to the demise of my patience. Also, my habit of greatly overscheduling myself. As my brilliant husband has suggested for years, I need to give complete attention to whatever task is at hand. If that’s a kid, fine.

If I’m trying to answer emails at a time when it’s clear I won’t achieve that task, then I need to stop. Getting pulled away from something I shouldn’t have tried to do anyway, is the cause of my loss of patience.

This week, I resolve to actually schedule in the stuff that I was trying to multitask – like laundry, email, cooking, cleaning and see how I do.

But first, let’s be real. I don’t clean. 🙂