I don't like who I was today....

[WonderWild]

I watched my brothers boys Saturday and Sunday for 11 hours each day. They were pretty good on Saturday but Sunday (today) was very, very challenging. They just would not stop. I yelled. I manhandled. Did not spank or smack but boy did I want to. They are 5 and 3. The younger one will do this crying thing if you tell him no about something or have him do something he doesn't want to do. He goes into this trance almost and will just cry and cry. When I watched him before he cried for 3 hours straight. My brother says that if he gets out of hand you should just sit an hold him and talk to him. I tried that. I got the crap beat out of me. It was just really hard and I had no patience. I don't want to be like that to any child. I pride myself on the patience I have for my Ds and the fact that I have never raised my hand to him. I just felt I needed to get that all out as sort of a cleansing. If I could get some hugs also that would be great.

[tboroson]

Robin I understand where you're coming from. It looks like your son is on the verge of becoming two years old. When Talia was his age, I thought I had the GD thing in the bag. Then I learned how difficult kids really are between the age of about 2.5-3.5, about the age of the younger nephew you were watching. Oh, my heavens.

The big thing to note is, these kids were stressed by being out of their normal environment, with someone other than their parents. You were thrown into taking care of two children who are not your own, and you don't know all their needs and mannerisms and so on the way their own parents do. You had to take care of them for a long time (did you have them all weekend, or just the days? Either way, it was a lot) in addition to taking care of your own son. It made for a very stressful situation for all involved, and some negative reaction to that stress is very understandable. I don't know if you're accustomed to caring for them, but I think you'll be much better prepared for them next time!

[savannah smiles]

I think your reactions and feelings are totally understandable given the tough situation you were in. It would be nice if every stressful event brought out some deeper reserve of patience and calmness, but that just doesn't always happen - at least not with me.
I didn't like the person I was this weekend either (my dh is out of town on a job interview, I had to do office work at home, I had to clean and wrap and box up presents *and* deal with a clingy 3 yr old and by 4pm each day I had pretty much run out of steam) but I did the best I could and tomorrow is a fresh start.
Hope you feel better soon!