This old Jimmy Buffett song title comes to mind when we are trying to change a diaper or get dressed or leave the house or whatever the hurricane doesn't want to do.
Other than the song's title, not much applies to trying to get a willful toddler to bend to the task at hand.
If I could let her run around with a poopy diaper, in pajamas, with no shoes on and her hair uncombed I would.
Teeth not brushed and eating handfuls of M&Ms, her apple juice intravenous drip threatening to tip over and spill while jumping on the sofa like a WWE superstar...
Something tells me that would not end well either.
She has moments of incredibly sweet cooperation which shine like beacons in a stormy night. Her tantrums are usually brief but very powerful and it's hard as parent to not react with the same volume of emotion. If you do react emotionally you'll get twice as much back so it's best to step back, breath, and try to reason with the hurricane or hunker down hope it just passes by quickly.
How do you reason with your little hurricane(s)? Maybe, like Jimmy suggests, I should just go have a Bloody Mary.
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