It's happens to all of us. You wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you just can't shake the grumpiness. This was me, yesterday. After not nearly enough sleep, I woke up to hear the Eskimo shouting "MAMA!!!!!!!" at the top of his little lungs. And for some reason it just made me cringe. Maybe it was a premonition of what was to come. So, grumbling, I dragged myself out of bed to start the day. And what a day it was.
The Eskimo could sense my negativity from the get go. He asked why I was angry and I said I wasn't angry, just cranky and reminded him that he is usually cranky when he wakes up, too. I tried to shake it off and smile, but couldn't. The day continued in a downward spiral from there. We had planned to go on a family hike, but from that moment forward, the Eskimo decided he was going to do his very best to cause trouble. He's three. He's very good at causing trouble. By this time my husband, who had graciously made us all pancakes, was also starting to feed off my negative energy. More crankiness all around.
Long story short, yesterday involved a lot of yelling (I hate yelling), a lot of foot stomping, and many tears. All because I was cranky when I woke up. I am fully convinced that my energy dragged the rest of the house down. The worst part is, I knew I was doing it, but I couldn't pull myself out of my funk. Finally, by the time the Eskimo got up from his nap, I had managed to turn my attitude around. I did my best to maintain a smile for the rest of the day, and it almost worked. Almost. We had a disastrous bedtime routine followed by two hours of crying and bargaining before the Eskimo finally fell asleep. The last time I went in to talk to him, I asked him if he thought we could all do better tomorrow and have a better day. He thought we could. So did I.
Here's what's important. It's ok to have a bad day. It's ok for your kids to see you having a bad day. It shows them that we aren't perfect, no one is, and that's ok, too. It's how you recover from it that counts. We didn't let yesterday's misery bleed over into today. We tackled today head on and forgave ourselves and each other for everything that happened yesterday. I was a terrible mother yesterday; I will be a better mother today. Forgive yourself, forgive the ones you love, and move on.
