Self Control.... the most annoying fruit of the Spirit

Whoever said that two year olds are the worst, was lying. Three year olds are WAY worse. Three year olds are like 13 year olds without the hormones. Multiple times a day I go through the heights of ecstasy to the depths of despair with Jessie. We often practice deep breathing, for her sanity and mine.

Recently, I read an article on GirlTalkBlog about teaching young children about self control. My daily struggle with Jessie is on self control, whether it's control her body (don't lick the fruit at the grocery store), or her speech (No, you can't yell at mommy), to her emotions (Crying over a piece of apple that has a mark on it, is silly). The article recommended singing songs about self control, memorizing scripture, and creating a sticker chart for self control. Over the past weekend, I started implementing some of these suggestions. 

But the most annoying/hardest about teaching Self Control is that YOU have to have self control. When Jessie starts to freak out, I feel my insides panic, and I want to lose my cool. She doesn't have self control. I have to model it for her. There are days where I would like to throw myself onto the floor, kick my feet, and wail. But I can't. I have to exercise Self Control. 

I am constantly having to take deep breaths, sing songs to myself and Jessie, and I pray. We often have to stop, pray, and ask for forgiveness. We ask God to come and change our hearts. And many times, I have to ask for Jessie's forgiveness for my anger and lack of self control. I know how hard it is to be self controlled as an adult. No wonder my little three year can barely contain herself. We are learning together. 

At night when I pray with Jessie and we ask God to help us with our self control, and I know what it will mean. It means practice. Today and tomorrow will be filled with opportunities for me to display self control, kindness, and humility for my daughters. Tomorrow will probably include an apology about my lack of self control. And slowly I know things will get better. Slowly our hearts will change. Her tantrums won't be as frequent, her outbursts not as long, and hopefully we'll start to catch ourselves before we lose our cool. It's going to take practice. And thankfully three year olds don't stay three forever.