Brush Her Hair, Father?
It happened just like so many times before. We'd had an absolutely beautiful day, enjoyed each other's company, shopped, played, laughed... Then, as we wound down for bed, the battle began. Not a battle over bedtime, but over a decision, a moment of disrespect, a moment of not taking responsibility for one's actions. My daughter and I have had many such blowups. We're tired, we're overstimulated, and we trigger each other's fight or flight response, except for us its alsway fight. Definitely not some of my proudest parenting moments. Yelling and back talking turned to tears and anger. No one can regulate themselves. The other children make themselves scarce. We're miserable. And the enemy almost wins. He almost robs us of our perfect day, of all of the beauty that came before this moment. I step away, my frustration tempting me to go to sleep and ignore it all. But my baby girl... No matter the situation she deserves to go to bed knowing that this fight do...