Little kids are annoying. You laugh, but honestly, that’s probably one of the best pieces of parenting advice I have ever received. It’s basically just another way of saying choose your battles. Kids do annoying things. All. The. Time.
They bang their spoons on the table to hear the sound, make loud noises, throw their cups on the floor for fun, and jump around constantly. They’re supposed to. It’s part of being a little kid. That’s why, if it’s not hurting them or anyone else, I try to let it go.
But letting it go can be so, so hard.
We have been on vacation this week. My kids are basically in constant motion and that doesn’t change with the scenery. If my son isn’t jumping up and down in front of the TV or running full force into me for a hug, my daughter is climbing the furniture (and knocking over lamps), or just running around mimicking my son.
The kids have been off of their normal routine, and it shows. Naps have been hit or miss and everyone is amped up. I’ve been barking “Stop!” 900 times a day and yelling things like “Just sit down, for the love of God.” At times, there hasn’t really been a lot of letting it go.
Today, on our last day here, I sat in the car after I drove both kids around in our rental so that they would nap. In the peace and quiet, I looked back over some of the recent pictures that I had taken. There were a lot of smiles and funny moments but there was a lot that was not pictured.
Not pictured was the tantrum my son threw about not being able to wear flip flops on the bikes or the pretzels that my daughter dumped all over the condo floor. Not pictured is my daughter pouring Gatorade all over herself before getting on the plane or all the times I had to pick her wet noodle body up off of the floor of the plane when she was trying to escape. You won’t see a picture of the fit my son had when we didn’t buy him something in the gift shop or all of the times we chased my daughter around in restaurants and basically everywhere else. And even though in the moment, those things were so stressful, I’m sure when I look back at these pictures I won’t remember.
I’ll look at the pictures of our vacation and remember watching the sunset on the beach with my son and how he kept telling me he’d been dreaming of the beach. I’ll remember the joy on my son’s face when he was playing in the waves and my daughter’s sweet little toddler voice saying “pack pack” when she grabbed her backpack. I’ll remember riding bikes to breakfast, and watching my daughter walk along the shoreline holding hands with her Daddy. I’ll remember floating in the ocean water next to my son waiting for the next wave to crash, finding shells in the sand and playing in the pool.
Little kids are annoying, and the truth is that family vacations are a lot of work and can be pretty stressful. But the memories, pictured and not pictured, that we create make it all worth it.
