“We would never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.”

(Helen Keller)

A day spent with your children, when everything goes right, is a beautiful thing. Surely you’ve had one of those days, right? You know…everyone can find their socks, no one hits their sister, all your kids volunteer to clean up their plates after dinner, and all of them ask to read instead of watch TV after school. Those days are indeed great. But it’s the other days that make you great.

It’s exactly in those times that are most difficult that you learn what it really takes to be a parent, and a true adult. I know this is hard to keep in mind when you are smack dab in the middle of a full-blown toddler meltdown, but for your sake and hers, you must. If you can see that the tantrums, the teasing, and the testing all have a purpose—it’s not to annoy you; it’s to grow you—you’ll be so much better equipped to lead your child through them.