Parenting Is Not For Wimps

Some days, it stinks to be a grown-up! Nate and I had made big plans for this weekend. Since my birthday falls on Labor Day, we thought we would have a combo Labor Day/birthday/end of summer fun family weekend. Ben apparently had different plans. He had a mini-meltdown after bowling yesterday, so instead of going out to dinner like we had planned, we came home and had some delicious ramen noodles. We figured we had nipped his grumpiness in the bud and the rest of the weekend would be smooth sailing. WRONG. This morning we decided to take a trip to the Brigham City Walmart so we could stop in Perry and get some of the world’s best corn on the cob. We let the kids take the money that they’ve been saving so they could pick out a toy at Walmart. Everything was fine until Ben saw that Emily had found two things to buy and he only had enough money for one. He had a royal, turn-the-heads-of-everyone-within-a-hundred-yards, fit. We tried to reason with him, but he was beyond reasoning. Nate had the fun parental task of carrying a seven year old kicking and screaming out to the car. Then, Ben screamed the whole way home because we didn’t let him get the toy that he had picked out. Honestly, I would think that after seven years of never giving into a tantrum, he would have us figured out, but he keeps thinking that he can beat the system. Anyway, it kind of put a kink in the rest of the day’s plans. We were supposed to have our last family trip to the pool and then go out to the dinner that we had skipped last night. Instead, Nate took the girls to the pool and I stayed home with Ben while he screamed for another couple of hours in his bedroom. He is certainly one determined kid! On the bright side, we had scrummy Papa Murphy pizza for dinner, and Ben assures us that he learned his lesson and he will “never have a fit again.” I wish I believed that.