How My Three Year Old Teaches Me Patience :: A Tale of a Tantrum

First of all, how come “the terrible twos” are a thing, yet there is no clever name for the threes? You guys, three years old has thrown me for a LOOP. The attitude. The sass. The thinking they have all this newfound independence.

Quite often, you can catch my three year old driving me absolutely bonkers!

I’ve found myself feeling my patience wearing thin with him before. I think I often overlook the fact that I’m actually learning patience from him.

FOR EXAMPLE:

I was in the mall parking lot the other day waiting to pick my husband up after he went to a Saints game (WHO DAT!). I had both boys peacefully napping in the backseat. After drinking a lot of water and coffee earlier in the day, I ended up urgently needing to go in to the mall while they were still napping. I had to wake up not one, but TWO NAPPING BABIES! Not a fan of being woken up from car naps, you can only imagine the attitude I got. After literally buckling himself back into his car seat because “he wanted to unbuckle himself,” I got screeched at for walking too fast. He gave me dirty looks, as if how dare I wake him up. It was a very challenging moment as a parent.

But, you know what? That experience also taught me a lot. I made it to the bathroom without peeing on myself in the parking lot. My baby stayed peacefully in his car seat as I lugged all 100 pounds of him & his car seat inside. (Exaggerating on the 100 pounds, but y’all know how heavy those car seats are!) My three year old was so excited to ride the escalator in the mall for the first time. And we all made it out to tell the tale!

As much as he pushes my buttons, he has also taught me a tremendous amount of patience. When he is giving me what seems like the biggest ‘tude in all the land, I can take a step back and approach the situation differently. Knowing the attitude won’t last helps me regain a sense of calm, and I think he responds to that.

As parents, I know we’re supposed to be the ones teaching our kids, but they sure can teach us a thing or two as well!

Meghan Culpepper
Meghan lives on the Northshore with her husband, Brandon, and their two boys. She grew up on the Northshore and happily settled back in to raise her family there. When she's not playing referee between her 4 & 2 year olds, she enjoys watching the Food Network and trying to actually learn how to cook (or bake!) Meghan loves being a boy mom and can probably win at any kind of Ninja Turtle trivia.

4 COMMENTS

  1. ^^^ Haha. I literally came to this post JUST to comment this! There is definitely a name for it, and it’s fitting! Now I’m wondering what “fours” should be called…

    • Hahaha, I’m hoping something that gives me hope that “fours” will be filled with a little less attitude than my threenager!

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