McGrath Moments

Dear God,
I pray that you will help me to have more patience with my children. I pray that you will help me to take a deep breath and try to calm down before I raise my voice to my children. They deserve to have a mom that can take a moment to observe the situation before jumping to conclusions or quickly handing out punishments. Help me to know when my children need to be corrected and when they are "just being children". I pray you will help me to be the best mom to Braeden and Brenna that I can. Amen.

Lately, I have noticed that my temper is getting the best of me. I don't know if it is all of the pressure of Christmas, shopping, wrapping, decorating, school programs, school parties, gift exchanges, work Christmas parties, everyday chores, and a husband that is constantly out-of-town, but I have not been as patient with my children and they deserve more.

For example, Brenna is NOT a morning person and any little thing will set her off. When I say set her off, I mean a complete tantrum of screaming at the top of her lungs and throwing herself onto the floor. One of the mornings last week when we experienced some snow/ice, she had a complete meltdown before we left for school . By the time I loaded the kids in the car, I was at the end of my rope (Ed was out of town). As we pull out of the driveway into the street Brenna starts screaming what I thought was "NO, NO, NO!" I turned around and YELLED, "If I hear the word "NO" one more time..." and then she just looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Snow, Mama." She had been saying, "SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!"

The two words sound so similar, but I was clearly wrong. That was when I realized that I needed to ask for God to help me with my patience. Brenna is only 2 years old. She needs a mom that can deal with a little tantrum, but keep calm in the midst of it. Braeden deserves the same. I think it is important to always strive to be better, especially when it comes to our children.