As I'm typing this, I can hear my 3 year old screaming his head off and being an absolute dickhead to the sitter because she said "Ok, it's time for the bathroom"

cue; "NO NO NO I don't want to go!", throwing of shit, kicking, screaming, tantrum. Bog standard toddler shit on a Monday.

Which - ok, it could be upsetting if you DON'T have to go but you feel forced to go.

Here's The Thing.

he's a toddler, if you oblige his response that he does not want to go, you can just about set your watch to the second when he will inevitably wet his pants 1 minute later.

We have the reward system down, he's been learning.


The fucking insane thing about toddlers is how unpredictable they can be. 8 out of 10 times things will be peaceful but then out of the blue, you will be forced to reckon with a meltdown flying in from left field.


Kids I have learned, have some of the deepest FOMO on earth. I could be polishing cherry tomatoes with a q-tip and my boys will be fighting each other to see who can get closest to watch me do some boring shit.
When the oldest child is refusing to take a bathroom break its because he's afraid he's going to miss out on...god knows what.

I'm patient, I understand that screaming and tantrums is like their brains saying "what the fuck man, what even are the words...I'm upset!"

I know I'm just barely on level 1 of the parenting game.