My daughter is so sassy and it drives me insane. My first son is a loner and has an incredible shyness about him. My second son stands when he eats and when he watches tv...and rocks left and right. My baby has the nerve to complain when things are "a mess" and has a pretty advanced interest in shoes.

No, I'm not giving random descriptions of my children, though I feel like they are cool people to know. I'm not even trying to air their dirty laundry by magnifying all their flaws. Truthfully, this article would be too long if I compiled a list of all the things that make them great people. I am pointing out some things that really annoy me about them. The same things annoy my husband. The twist is that every last aforementioned "flaw" listed above is a character trait of either myself or my husband.  Eek!

Just as I morph into behavior-correcting-momma mode, my daughter will indubitably utter a phrase that will activate my imaginative brain into a full on cinematic reel of past times that I've recited the same phrase. I mean, she's even mastered my body language. I have to steer the course because the behaviour needs to be corrected--BUT, it needs to be corrected in me as well.  

I sometimes cringe at the way my children relate to one another. They can be so intolerant and unfriendly. Oh, but there are times when I'm simply overwhelmed with all the thoughts in my head and I treat it as if they can hear them too. Don't they know the stress I'm under? One is touching me, another is calling my name, one more telling me about their day. In those instances, I, myself, become intolerant and unfriendly.  

We often say "parenting doesn't come with a handbook" and although it doesn't, there are books on parenting. Plenty. From my experience though, there is no way to know it all. Take notice of your dry areas and water them. Be open to correcting your own behaviours, both the ones they've adopted and the ones they may have never seen. Apologize to them, because you're not always right and they need to know that.

I'm telling my sassy, shoe-loving, mess of a self, that as I journey down this path of parenthood, to never forget to look in the mirror. And I refuse to out the loner parent who stands when he eats and watches television--but it's not me (wink).