Daddy to the rescue

There are times when I am truly grateful that the Lord made the man the head of the house. As much as I think I can handle everything on my own, sometimes I can't, and this past weekend was one of those times. We have been struggling with our 3 year old of late. He goes through great patches of obedience and good behavior and then the bottom drops out. Friday it dropped and took me with it. He challenged me on everything all day long: what pants to wear, what shirt, socks too short, underwear too long, he wanted to turn the light on - not me, Buzz Lightyear cup - not Lightening McQueen, milk not juice. My poor husband called to see where I was around 5 p.m. as I was supposed to meet him to drop off his car at the shop. We were late, as usual, because I was arguing (and spanking) my 3 year old after growing tired of negotiating. See, I don't believe you should negotiate with your kids. There are times when I redirect, times when I give in, but most times if I tell my kids to do something I expect them to do it. Immediately. No "in a minute" or "hold on" or "but Mooommmmmm". My 3 year old has yet to understand this about me and it causes a great amount of frustration between us. Back to my husband. He calls and hears the exhaustion in my voice and states that this was the last straw. Once we got there, he took the kids, I came home. He had a long talk with the 3 year old and when he arrived home my son promptly said "I'm sorry I made you cry Mommy". My husband also took him to work with him that Saturday and dealt with him all weekend. Any problems that arose, he took the lead. God I love him! Come Monday morning my 3 year old was a new child. He was sweet and obedient - it was like another child took over his body. He was back to saying "are you happy mommy?" We still have our challenges, but after a weekend with Daddy in control, things are at least back on the right track.