Balance

Balance. It’s all about balance. I’m not talking about a balanced diet or balancing the fine line between work and family, I’m talking about a balance between the good times and the bad times with our children. We need to have the good times to counteract our frustration during the bad times. The good times top up our love jugs so that we have some reserves for dealing with the not so great times. Let me give you an example...

Last night, I had the most beautiful evening with my little family. Mat arrived home just as I was serving up dinner so I decided we would throw some towels on the lawn (easier to wash than a picnic rug!) and have a picnic dinner. The weather was just stunning, clear sky, soft breeze and very few insects...delightful. We sat outside enjoying our picnic, the kids played together and chased the dog around the yard while Mat and I laid back on the towels chatting and enjoying the moment. It was really so lovely and did wonders at topping up my love jug...just as well because this morning we had to go to the supermarket (insert shudder here).

Without fail, Sophie always needs to wee while we are in the middle of the grocery shopping. I ask her every time if she needs to go beforehand, I have even tried forcing her to sit on the toilet, but to no avail. She is as stubborn as they come, even to the point that she will only wee if she decides she wants too...doesn’t matter if she is dancing on the spot to the point of busting, if she is told to go to the toilet, she simply refuses. So you can imagine my surprise this morning as we entered the shopping centre and I asked if she needed to go to the toilet before we started the shopping. She said no at first but then had a quick little conference with her imaginary friend Munchkin and decided that a toilet stop was a good idea. We headed into the toilets so first we had to wait for the automatic door to open, then wait for it to close before it can be locked (which seems to take forever when lugging Elliott around). Sophie then put Munchkin on the toilet first to which I said “Good God Sophie, you go first, Munchkin can go second. Just hop on and do your wees”. Oh no, couldn’t possibly do that, Munchkin had to finish her turn. Sophie then got Munchkin off the toilet and took her to the basin to wash her hands. “Sophie, forget about washing Munchkin’s hands, she can wash her hands when you do yours, just hurry up and get on the toilet!” Again, complete obstinance from Sophie, which was met with gritted teeth frustration from me. “Sophie, do you need to wee or not?” “No I said” was the reply I got, “just Munchkin”! This was the moment I finally reached the threshold of my tolerance for Sophie’s imaginary friend...taking her to the freakin toilet! Several things ran through my head like Munchkin is not f#*@ing real or We are going to have to send Munchkin away to a nice farm but instead, I took a deep breath, drew on the reserves in my love jug and simply said “For goodness sakes Sophie, hurry up and let’s go and get the shopping done”.

Lucky there were reserves in my love jug from the happy evening before, otherwise I might have had a very devastated little girl on my hands just having witnessed her mother kill off her imaginary friend. Balance is key J