Birthday Tantrum | Holiday Market & Stroll | Cookie Swap | Holiday Pops Orchestra

Here's what you told me last time. Yeah, motherhood isn't easy. Personally, I'm surprised about the 9%! ;-)

Yesterday was my son's 10th birthday. We celebrated it with a party a couple of weeks before. He got gifts from family and friends and had a great time.

So by the time it was his real birthday, it was more chill. A friend was visiting so we booked dinner with him. I told my kids about the plan, but apparently my son didn't hear it (probably too busy reading a book.)

We picked up my son that evening and started driving to the dinner reservation.

"Wait, we're not going to my favorite restaurant?" He said.

"No, remember tonight we're going to meet my friend visiting from out of town? We can go tomorrow."

"Wahhh..." My son started bawling.

Confused, I said, "I'm sorry you're upset. We talked about it this morning?"

"Wahhh... I waited a whole year for this. And you didn't say anything. Wahhh... "

I asked my daughter and sure enough, she heard just fine.

Ever ready to solve the problem, my husband jumped into the action:

To my son, "Okay, what do you want."

And just to me, "Well, should I just take him to where he wants to go?"

Not a big fan of giving into tantrum, I said, "Maybe we should just let him cry it out?"

"Wahhh..." This went on for 5 minutes.

My husband tried again, "Now's the time to negotiate. Ask for what you want."

"Well mom's not gonna let me have what I want."

"Mom's not talking, you're talking to me."

They soon reached a deal: a toy, dinner tomorrow night, and ice-cream tonight.

My husband was happy he once again solved the problem. I was less sure, "I don't want to set a precedent for giving in."

"You think I'm being bad. " My son said.

"No." I said, putting my arm around him. "I know you're a good kid. You work hard. You're nice to your sister. You're a good friend."

"I'm proud of you. I just want you to make good decisions in life."

The dinner went without a hitch. Then my son asked to go home early as he was tired.

Ah, sleep-deprived tantrum, I thought to myself.

The next day, we picked the kids from school. "Where are we going?" My son asked.

"Your favorite restaurant, remember?"

"Oh." He didn't sound so excited. "I'm sorry about last night."

I felt proud of him. :)

Weekend Events

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Thursday 12/06, 3pm - Sat., Agassiz Baldwin Community

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Saturday 12/15, 2pm, Community Ice Skating @Kendall

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Friday 12/14, 7pm - 12/23, CYDP Dance Company, Somerville