Crying

We had a rough day with Jack on Easter. In fact, we've had a rough few days bordering on a week now.  He's been stubborn, inflexible, defiant, pushing limits, hyper, over-reactive, sulky, picking fights with all of us, and weepy.  This paired with us all being inside a house in self-isolation for an unknown quantity of time has been trying. Add in a whole lot of chocolate and you have a recipe for disaster. After his third reprimand that day, and the second time he went into his room in hysterical tears.  

The first day back at school for virtual learning, there were two outbursts about his journal assignment when I had him change all of the random capital As placed in his journal entry into lowercase ones.  When he was reprimanded for his freak out, he came down hard on himself, using absolutes (I'm stupid, I suck, etc.) and it took another 15 minutes to get him calmed down and back on task.  Jack sometimes acts out when he's in the middle of a growth or developmental spurt, but the past week or so has been next level emotional.  It's impacting everyone.

via Wiffle Gif

Recently I logged onto Facebook and stumbled upon an article about parents who feel like failures, parents who wonder if their children are always this difficult, and perhaps whether their end of the year teacher gifts should be much more generous.  These outburst, regressions, and acts of defiance are our children responding to the stress of the times.  I'm trying not to see this as a failure or take it personal, although some days it can be hard not to.

This past weekend we opened up the schedule for the kids giving them a lot more free time. Unfortunately for a kid like Jack, this meant four days without structure, a welcome change for Molly, not so much for her brother.  Things are already unpredictable enough for him and we just made it worse. The lack of schedule totally bit us and then some.  

My other major frustration is that I don't have the answers for my kids that they need.  I don't know when they'll get to go back to school, get to see their friends, or hug their grandparents.  I know how much this stresses me out and I'm not a child with even less control over what's going on. I need to keep reminding myself that they're eight, this is hard for everyone, and that we aren't alone in our struggle with this all.

via Tenor

This week I am going to try and be patient, take it slow, and stick to a schedule (all while getting my own work complete).  I am so used to having alone time which isn't happening much right now and my patience is thin.  I'm going to set aside time for locking myself in my room for some reading, solo walks with the dog, and 'me time' so I am better equipped to attempt to  parent my way through this.  Deep breath, rant over.

How are you all coping?