What a determined toddler can teach you about life!
Have you ever had to deal with a toddler tantrum, right in the middle of the store, all the eyes peering at you and you know you are slowly losing the battle with every passing minute?
It was the kind I had seen other moms struggle with and shrugged off as lazy parenting when I did not have kids. Little did I know, Karma comes back to bite!! In my case, Karma is my second born, loud, stubborn and strong willed toddler who does not back down.
Well, it all began with a soccer practice drop off! Kiara always has her soccer practice at the oddest of times! No matter the season, her practice will always coincide with dinner time. So I am forced to give her an early dinner or shove some snacks down her throat and hope she will not be dying at the pickup. Now what this means for the little one, who is on a constant tow along with his sister, is that his dinner time gets messed up too.
Ever dealt with two hangry kids … not a pretty sight!!
Anyways, what a mother gotta do in such a situation… I made them both sandwiches, Kiara inhaled hers(the perks of coming hungry from school) and Mr Kiaan insisted that I pack his dinner in his sister’s lunch box and he would eat in the car.
Although he is too small to plot, sometimes I feel he meticulously plans these situations.
So of course he did not eat ONE BITE from the sandwich and as soon as I got off the car to do some Indian grocery shopping, he spotted the “Pani Puri truck”.
If you are unaware of what Pani Puri is, in one word it is the ultimate-sweet-tangy-spicy-water-filled-balls-of-pure-bliss! The one that makes your mouth water, just thinking about it. He stood in the front of the food truck and demanded to get some Pani Puri.
Me being the cool and confident mom informed him that “because he has not eaten his dinner yet, he can’t have his pani puri” and moved on.
Only, my Karma did not move on. He asked me one more time in his soft voice(in my mind I had already won the battle), but I stood my ground!
The pure temptation and hunger made my little toddler blind with furry. He had had enough! He had asked politely but was refused. He knew what he wanted and he knew how to get it!
Without getting into details about how a little child manipulated a grown a** woman, I can tell you this, I gave in and bought him some pani puri, which he enjoyed to the very last bit.
Of course he did not eat his dinner. He ate more crap that day than I would like to admit. Thinking back I could have done so many things differently but on that day the only positive I could conjure was the amount of fight this little body had!
He did not give in, got what he wanted and instead of getting all antsy about it, enjoyed the fruit of his labor! Not that I appreciate him blackmailing me, but I can’t help but wonder that why are we(women, more specifically moms) afraid to ask for what is even a little bit out of norm. We are so cautious of hurting other people's feelings that we almost can not stand up for ourselves (I can see my husband rolling his eyes here, I put up a solid fight against him 🤣) and even after we have won the battle, the guilt(I would love to meet a mom that doesn't battle with guilt on a daily basis)prohibits us from enjoying the reward!
Let this be the permission you are looking for, to demand the sweet-tangy-life-altering-pure-bliss-balls-of-water and just go for it!
Do not take no for an answer and get what you rightly deserve!
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