Why Won’t My Kids Listen?

Spoiler alert: you don’t (and they won’t). Wait wait wait, please keep reading, I promise there’s something useful here! If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a ton of times: it takes a village. My friends and neighbors and small group and Mothers Ministry are my village, and someone from each one of those groups has either parented their children or somehow given me a tidbit of wisdom in PRACTICAL real-time situations that stuck with me. What I mean is, I read tons of blogs and books and listened to tons of podcasts on parenting, but there’s just something about seeing a mom interact with her five-year-old who is having a colossal meltdown in front of you that makes it stick with you more than all the best blog posts in the world.

Read on, and don’t forget to comment at the end if you have something that’s been particularly helpful in your season. Share so we can all benefit (myself included)!

Yep, that’s right. I’d like to say it’s always been the plan, but back in December my husband and I decided it was probably a lot less chaotic to send our oldest to brick and mortar traditional kindergarten. So we enrolled her in Pre-K in January, and she did great for 8 weeks! Then COVID shut everything down. And well, now here we are.

It’s been ten weeks of quarantine. Since all this began, life has changed so much—both because of covid and because we had a baby at the peak of the pandemic. We’re not only adjusting to life with three kids but adjusting to a new normal along the way. And since every day is the-same-but-different as information and recommendations change, “new normal” seems like a moving target. 

Yes, another one. That’s the reality of this weird time we’re living in. Whether you’re only following your local news, social media, all the headlines, or just getting updates from your neighbor, by now it’s absolutely impossible to escape it.

What does that change for this blog? Nothing except maybe more posts as we sequester ourselves and try to remain healthy while still meeting the needs of our family. This time is completely unprecedented and so very strange — I imagine that is the sentiment you, dear reader, feel as well.