The biggest lie that we're told is that parenting and motherhood "comes naturally" to all women, but the truth is that it really doesn't to some. One mom was clearly struggling with this when she wrote in to the r/breakingmom forum and admitted that, yeah, sometimes she doesn't really like her 6-year-old.
It's not that the mom doesn't love her son -- it's that he's a handful.
There are as many good times as there are bad, the Redditor explained in her post. And compared to other kids, she knows she has it good.
He doesn't throw tantrums, he doesn't "kill kittens" or "try to hurt his brother," and he isn't destructive. "He is just… a boy. He is all boy. He is on the go from sun up to sun down and he could go longer than that if I let him," she explained.
The bigger problem is that he doesn't listen either.
The mom has to tell her son things "over and over." Her son thinks "everything is a joke."
"I am pretty young (I had him when I was 18). So I feel like he thinks I am also a kid, but I just happen to somehow be his mom," she wrote.
She tried enrolling him in summer camp so they could have a "breather" from each other.
But now he's even sassier than ever.
"I don't spank him or cuss at him, but I do find myself getting loud with him a lot," she wrote. At night she'll tell her son to go to bed, but no matter how much she tries "he will come out several times bringing any kind of trash he can find to throw it away."
"And at that point I get loud," she explained. "It literally p—es me off to no end when I clearly state to him to stay in his bed and he does not listen. And then to try to change the subject he'll want to get a hug and a kiss."
He also asks her a million questions.
The mom can handle two to three questions — max — even on a good day.
"So I get irritated really fast when he asks 'why' after I tell him to do something or ask 100 times where we are going," she continued. And what's worse, even when she does tell her son no, "he cannot just take my answer and move on."
"We have to go back and forth on it. But this and but that. Then I get loud and I'm like WHAT. DID. I. SAY?!" she wrote.
She even tried an old teacher trick to get the questions to stop.
"I read a post on Reddit somewhere that a teacher says 'thank you' at the end of her sentence when she ask her students to do something so that way there isn’t room for discussion," she wrote. "I have tried that a few times and it seemed to work."
That is why the mom has come to the internet looking for help.
As anyone will tell you, being a parent isn't easy.
Many other parents had their own tales of their kids driving them absolutely nuts.
One parent could totally relate, and wrote this:
"My six year old stuffed his zucchini behind his dresser last night because he didn't want to eat it. Every five seconds it's 'can I tell you something?' and he is always up in my [expletive] and wants to snuggle all the time which is cute except he cannot sit still for the life of him and is always flailing around and twitching all over the place. It can make me really anxious to be around him because he does not know how to relax."
Another parent assured the OP that she wasn't alone:
"Mannnn I feel the same way, I didn't talk to my 7-year-old kid all day today because I am not able to without getting mad. It started because she wouldn't eat dinner last night and today asked me if she could eat chips and I said no because you won't be able to eat dinner and she asked again and again and again and again. I just threw a bag of chips on the floor and left. … I'm sorry I know this wasn't helpful. But just letting you know you are not alone. Kids are tough at this age."
A third parent also had issues with an annoying child.
"Sounds like my kid. She's 11 and still can't be quiet," the person admitted. "She's literally on the couch next to me giving me a play by play of the video game she's playing. She can't do anything without talking. It's like she loves hearing the sound of her own voice. I don't lol."
One person warned the mom that she needs to take time for herself.
"If you can get some breaks for yourself, and you can get a consistent bedtime going where you have time to decompress, then you may be able to start to tackle the other behaviors and start enjoying him more," the commenter advised.
It really does seem like this mom needs some alone time. In the meantime, she should know that it's completely normal to feel drained by your children sometimes.
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