number (who really knows) on my list of parenting tricks......

Sometimes I share a parenting strategy one on one and then decide I should blog it for....well....the greater good.  That's all of you out there who are still following and reading after all this time.  Thanks for that by the way.  It's more fun to write when I know folks will read.  If there were only a way to get paid for this!  

Today, I received a call from a friend.  I watch her child sometimes.  I love this child and the child loves me.  Today, this little one was having a hard day and the reason is a mystery.  Not hungry, not tired, not sick.....,..just inconsolable and out of sorts.  The child wanted to talk to me.  I said hello and told her that I knew she was sad......and then she wanted her mama to talk instead.  Mama and I talked a bit and I gave her some atypical and personal advice.  I told her to ask her kiddo if she wanted fruit snacks or french fries......and then, if she wanted to play barbies or something else.  I suggested lots of kisses and hugs and snuggles and taking anything unnecessary off the table for the evening.

Foods help us regulate, whether that is good or bad.  Connection with an important human being helps us resolve the yuck inside of us.  I asked the mama to check back in with me in a few hours and tell me how she is doing.

We call these fragile flower days at our house.  We have had them for.....forever.  They sometimes have a reason and they sometimes don't.  It is a slow meltdown, a sense of crabby sadness......and here is what I have learned to do.  It does not follow the American Academy of Pediatrics.....and may have loose ties to The Connected Parent philosophy by Karen Purvis, but with my own, working mama twist.

Slow down.  Get out the doritos and the soda.  Get fries through the drive-thru.  Take out play-dough, or crayons and a coloring book.....maybe even....glitter.  Yes.  I did let glitter come out of inprisonment on Saturday because Precious needed it.  Connect with your kid.  Hold a hand, ask for a kiss, praise him or her for being smart and awesome.  Smile and make eye contact with her......ask for another hug.........and just....be.

This has worked for me over and over again.  Doritos, fruit snacks, fries, pop.  Crafts.  Play-mags.  Oh oh oh...and this cool game where the kids leave the room and I set out "mystery food" in little dixie cups.  We have a taste test and they blindly sample what is in the cups and then say what it is.......its great fun.  Chocolate chips, marshmallows, peanuts, cheese....the sky's the limit.  Try it.

I will end on this sweet note.  Today, Precious was finishing piano lesson at Nana Barb's house.  Josiah and I were waiting, after daycare and a full work day for mom.  He wanted to go outside in her back yard.  I wanted to go sit in the car, and even more so, I wanted to go home and get dinner ready and snuggle in for the night on this relentlessly aweful cold and rainy/snowy April Monday.  We went out her back door.  I saw him scribbling with his stubby little finger on her porch window.  I said, "he, don't spit on her window.  She won't like that."  Joe said, "I didn't spit, mom.  I 'huh-d'.  He blew his warm breath on that cold window and made a puff that he could scribble.  This kid has a spot-on perfect way to describe everything.  He "huh-d".

Maybe when our kids are driving us nuts and we are all tired and stressed we can just "huh" the window and let our finger scribble it clear once in awhile.