Ok, so just between you and me, I am losing my mind. Dealing with a two and a half year old day in and day out is taking its toll on me. From the first whine in the morning to the final negotiation at night I am constantly on edge, waiting for the next meltdown, trying to figure out the best way through the morass of emotions that is my child these days.

So far my strategy has been brute force. I set limits, I give time outs, I count to three and I yell. I yell way too much. And at the end of the day my head hurts and I am cranky and exhausted. And then it starts all over again.

Something has to give. I can’t keep going like this, and surely it isn’t doing her any good.

So as of today I am trying a different strategy. No more yelling. I’m going to kill her with kindness. I’m going zen on her butt.

I will be like Buddha himself, calm, wise and thoughtful. When she resists, whines and challenges me, I will be like water instead of a brick wall and will bend her to my will gently. I will still use timeouts and limits, but I will do it without yelling.

I figure at the very least my head won’t be pounding as hard at the end of the day and maybe, just maybe, she will be so caught off guard by my new affect that she will forget to whine about what I am saying. I’m not counting on it though. I just need my blood pressure to go down a couple points, and in the end life is just too short to be so cranky all the time.

I’ll let you know how it goes.