When Emma got home from school when she was in Kindergarten, she would melt down a lot. You know… crying, whining… meladrama bigtime. No real reason mind you, just regular meltdowns. We were miserable. She just seemed completely unable to control her emotions and everything, good or bad, seemed to upset her. She was never happy go lucky anytime after school. Moody didn’t even begin to cover it.

Dinara when she gets home, acts crazy like a kid on a stimulant. She gets these bursts of energy, rough-houses with her brother (sometimes to the point that someone cries), can’t follow instructions, can’t stay focused on anything. It’s almost like she can’t keep her little body in control any longer and she just has to let it all out. But in the exact opposite way Emma did. Physically versus emotionally.

I know it’s the same reaction just expressed in different ways but when it’s happening, it feels different. You wonder what is going on with your kid. What is typical kid behavior and is your kid typical - or are you missing something or doing something wrong?

It’s just strange, because as a parent to multiple kids, you think that as each kid goes through a stage, you have it all figured out. You’ve developed the skills you need to deal with the stages. But really you don’t have bupkus. The little humans that they are they throw new stuff at you. They go and be all different.

I guess what does come with experience is that you realize that experience really just helps define parenting decisions but not define parenting outcomes. The whole different human thing just enters way to many variables to compute clean clear outcomes. The “skills” you obtain parenting one child doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the same skills you’ll need for the next.

I find that challenging and some what discouraging at the same time. Only because it really makes it hard to be a parenting overachiever doesn’t it?

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