Patience

“Patience and fortitude conquer all things” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” - Arnold H. Glasgow
“Patience can't be acquired overnight. It is just like building up a muscle. Every day you need to work on it.” -Eknath Easwaran

The subject of tonight's post is quite obvious.  We all know "Patience is a Virtue", but we also all joke that we either have none or it is the hardest of all virtues to possess.  I have found since becoming a mother, I have even less patience than I did before.  Who knew that was even possible.  One would think that after having children, you'd learn the art of patience much better due to the nature of parenting and children.  Instead, I feel as if it is all lost.  I am slowly working on my expectations and my patience in certain situations.  Its a learning experience and it will take time.  I hope it will also, in turn, help my children to have patience in the things they do and with the world around them.  

Patience with a 4 1/2 year old and an almost 2 year old is not an easy thing.  Its as if their daily duty is to try my patience to the very end as those tired, little eyes finally close, and they drift off into what I am beginning to call my "Bliss time."  Its that time of day that it is finally quiet, the screeching and whining has ceased, and all finally is peaceful in the world.  That's not the time of day I need help with...its all those other hours.  So I have gone to reading lots of different opinions and methods on the matter.  Ways to help both their behavior and my own.  It all comes down to basically the same five elements:

1.  Examine, and possibly change, your expectations
2. Don't take the fights and outbursts personally
3. Adjust your parenting style to fit the child
4. Have a consistent discipline strategy 
5. Take a time out for yourself (either from the situation at hand, or just in general time for yourself)

It all sounds so simple, but sometimes I think we adults forget those steps after they've been in this crazy journey called "parenthood."  Its easy to say what you do or don't want to do as a parent when you don't have kids yet and are just developing the "dream" in your head.  The reality changes a whole lot once those lovely little humans start developing their own personalities and ideas - - once they start challenging you in ways you never knew possible.  These are the times that patience is needed the most.  So, here I am, tired and weary...but most of all trying to learn and find patience when it seems I have none left.  Its there, hidden, but there.