Today I have achieved a win!!

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Today I achieved an exceptional win in the battle that is parenting! I got my 5 year old to let me use the shower to rinse his hair!

This might seem like a pitiful win, but for me this is up there with the greatest! I felt a real achievement when I finally, after months of badgering, was able to use a hairdryer to dry his hair after a bath. The daily battle of hair washing is real, any parent will tell you, the excuses to not wash ones hair gets more ridiculous as time passes, the screams that come from my bathroom if soap or water gets anywhere near eyes ears or nose is terrifying…I try to adhere to their steadfast rules, however the little buggers squirm around so much that it is (regrettably) inevitable that I over shoot with the water or shampoo and temporarily blind them!!

I have two kids and the youngest copies everything the other does….if I can achieve a win with one the other is sure to break. Take hair drying, as soon as my eldest allowed the hair dryer any where near him, the other got jealous and wanted to try and now there is a fight over who gets the (semi) professional blow-dry. This is not ideal but with every win comes another very real battle that needs to be overcome!!

Parenting in many ways is a battle ground, you prepare, armour up and attack everyday (figuratively of course). This is not an overreaction it really is everyday. I question my sanity all the time with thoughts of why the hell am I battling a 3 and 5 year old? Why am I loosing? Are they miniature devils? The battles just to get through the day are relentless most days I stare longingly at the clock and ask how much longer until effing bedtime??!! The battles to get them to bed and to sleep at the same time and then to feel that momentary relief only to begin reminiscing and (check this) missing them (!) whilst they sleep. Its a battle of mental and physical strength that I never truly acknowledged until being a player in this ridiculous battle ground. All we want as parents is a functioning happy child that is accepted socially whilst being independent and fierce…Is this really too much to ask???

Todays battle of bathing and subsequent showering did not take much coercion, I caught him in a good head space, the terrain was good the mood was right, I made the suggestion. Mild panic came over his face, I knew that if I were to tread gently he might just agree to the utterly mad suggestion: The terms were set, as was the temperature of the water, it began. Two seconds in and it was like there was a disco in the bathroom he was loving it!! Next up my youngest steps up demands the same treatment, Holy cow this did not take long they both exclaimed that they would like to rinse their hair like this every day…EVERY DAY… I actually can’t believe my luck. I try and play it cool so as not to present a weakness, a weakness that somehow, in the very near future, will be used against me (trust me these toddlers and tweens are canny)

My bathroom is soaking (as am I) but I take it, I won today, it feels damn good, but I must not get complacent, I must keep my wits about me. If I do then perhaps one day, one day soon, I’ll be able to wash my kids hands in a restaurant bathroom and actually use the hand drier without the ear piercing screaming that makes honest folks think I’m attacking or kidnapping my children!!!

This blog was published on www.milksok.com originally May 15th 2017