Parenting always feels hard. Everyday you question if you gave them enough attention. Wonder if you were too hard on one. Think there is a good chance you lost your cool way too many times. Outside of that everyday hard, I found myself wondering and worrying about Eleanor often. She seemed to always be crying or snapping at others and whining a lot. I just couldn’t seem to figure out how to address the behavior.
Like all things in my life, I knew it was up to me to find an answer and be the change I wished to see. So I took to google and I found this really interesting article and it just hit home. I yelled to Ross, “THIS!!!” and I sent him the link and we both agreed that we found the root of the problem.
I don’t want to blame it on her sister and it isn’t that we would even call it jealousy. But somewhere in the mix of going from middle child to now we have a new baby girl, Eleanor lost her connection to us. It is something deep inside of her that is feeling lost and this is what we believe is at the root of her behavior.
I read the article Saturday night and Sunday morning I had a good long talk with her. Through her tears, she confirmed what we suspected. Ross took the rest of the gang to Quinn’s soccer and Eleanor and I spent the morning, just the two of us, creating with clay. It was really fun and it was fun to have that time with her. We know this isn’t a one time thing and that we will have to pour into her until she feels secure and connected again.
Unfortunately, it will take time and it will be the little things that add up over time that will remind her that she is just as special and loved and important to us as she has always been.
One of the projects we did, was to roll out some clay (we used this clay) and I traced her hand with a pencil. We then cut out the shape using a knife and laid her clay hand in a bowl, shaping it to our liking, and then we let it dry. We flirted with the idea of painting it, but I don’t think she has decided yet.
Even cooler, Eleanor gifted this project to me, so now I get her little hand on my dresser to hold my jewelry when I take it off. How fun is that?! This would make an incredible gift for moms and teachers. Especially if you paired them with a fun printable like these teacher tags or this fun mother’s day questionnaire printable.
If you are having a similar parenting struggle, here is a link to the article that I read that resonated with me: http://www.handinhandparenting.org/article/whats-the-cure-for-children-whining/
Please feel free to share your parenting woes in the comments. If you give this project a try, I would love to see so tag me on social media.
PS- I started an awesome Facebook community all about essential oils. You should definitely join me there!
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