This morning has been one of the more challenging for me in recent memory. Following are some of the elements contributing to the excitement at the Tayler house this morning:
Refusal to go to school
Tantrums
Stopped-up kitchen sink filled with the contents of my dispos-all.
More tantrums and refusals
When I break it down like that, it seems really easy! Of course--if I stop to remember that on such a morning, it is obscenely rare that all three children are happy all of the time, and that I was trying to work on a time-sensitive project that requires a good amount of focus--I remember why I was struggling. It helped that eventually Gabe and Charlie took a nap at the same time, Brian came home to fix the sink, and Lucy eventually agreed to go to school.
Part of this project has involved a search for quotable thoughts on children in general. These are some that stood out for me today:
Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it. ~Not Your Average Dictionary
Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it. ~Harold Hulbert
We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up. ~Christopher Morley
You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~Franklin P. Jones
Children are one third of our population and all of our future. ~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981
There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt
A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to. ~Robert Brault
Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller
Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed. ~Robert Gallagher
Any kid will run any errand for you if you ask at bedtime. ~Red Skelton
There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. ~Frank A. Clark
If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. ~Edgar W. Howe
There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. ~Walt Streightiff
