Battle of the Brush

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Every stage of parenting has it’s ~~battles~~ challenges.

When my kids were younger it was sleep – or the lack there of, I should say.

My kids are all July babies born two years apart, which opposed to popular belief, was not done on purpose. Anyway, you know what would have been divine after just having another baby? Not having a toddler who decided there would be no more naps.

I used to think it was my oldest child simply being difficult or that he was adjusting to the new baby, that is until the other two kids hit two years of age and also abandoned nap time. It was really helpful to have people advise me to “just put them in their rooms and let them have some quiet time for an hour or so.” Once in about every 78 “quiet times,” I might open the door to find my toddler napping. In the other 77 occasions I was cleaning up toys, clothes that had been ripped from drawers, diaper cream, or every Mom’s favorite fun find, poop.

Anyway, I’m happy to report that 10.5 years after having my first baby, we’re all enjoying regular sleep schedules! Over winter break we even slept in two days until 9am! So don’t worry new moms, hang on a decade and you could be sleeping soundly too!

Potty training was another ~~battle~~ challenge, and again due to my own poor planning, something I felt like I was doing for about six years straight. But we survived that one too.

And now we’ve entered into a period of time with a ten, eight and six year old, that I like to think is a calm before the storm. The storm, of course, being the teen years.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t exist in a realm of total peace and tranquility, but I’m not cleaning up poop and I can sleep for eight hour stretches so it’s pretty damn easy…well, most of the time.

I do have a rather epic battle each morning involving something I never would have considered to be such a trigger of turmoil – a hair brush.

Yes, a hair brush.

My six year old was born with a full head of hair, and although she gets it totally honestly, it’s always been a struggle to control. Although her hair isn’t as curly as mine, it’s thick and like my own mop, does what it wants to do. Her hair, however, once brushed will typically relax and stay styled. The trick is getting her to let me brush it.

When she was four, she would hide or dispose of the hairbrushes in an attempt to keep me from taming her mane.

When she was five I told her that if it wasn’t brushed, it would look wild to which she replied, “Good! I want to look like a wild child who lives in the woods with squirrels!”

And now that she’s six, well, not much has changed for this otherwise compliant and obedient child who has nothing but rage against the hair brush.