Children misbehave. I think I keep forgetting that. I keep forgetting because up until this year the misbehavior has been manageable, dare I say “cute”. Something happened when my child turned 4. He became stubborn. Really really stubborn. I shouldn’t be surprised by this because Ben and I can also run stubborn.

So what do you get when you put two stubborn adults and one stubborn 4 year old in a disagreement? Collision. We have been having several collisions in our house lately. It doesn’t matter how patient, how understanding, how firm we are; we are still having collisions. And each time, I have to remind myself, children misbehave. It’s their job I suppose. And my job is to right the wreck.

What did that look like yesterday morning? It looked like putting my 4 year old’s socks and shoes on in the car while he was strapped down in his car seat. It looked like praying over him at school before I left while he continued to cry. It looked like me shedding a few tears before I hauled my 30 weeks pregnant belly into a spin class.

Do I have the solution? Nope. But at the end of the day I remind myself, this is the job. Children misbehave. And in an odd way, there is comfort in knowing this may not be what I thought I was signing up for, but it is what’s supposed to happen. It’s what is happening to all of us parents in one way or another. We are all attempting to right the wreck.