Related to my previous post, I am reading this.  I’m only part way through it and I would already recommend it for those with a spirited child.

I wish I had read it a year or two ago.  For the longest time I thought that Caroline was strong-willed or spirited or whatever you want to call it, but she wasn’t so spirited that I was totally convinced.  When I think strong-willed I think child climbing on the refrigerator and throwing himself down on the floor in the store and so on.  Caroline is NOTHING like that. But at Caroline’s three month appointment I asked the doctor about it and he said that she was clearly independent (translated: strong-willed).

So we’ve “known” for a long time. But a lot of things didn’t click for us until the past six months or so.

I have laughed out loud at some of the things in the book because I am either so there or have so been there.  This literally made me laugh out loud:

You feel weary, drained, and much to old for this, even if you were only in your twenties when your child was born.

Well I was almost 40 when Caroline was born so I was glad to hear that the feeling old is not just about age but also about having a child who just demands so much more. I have felt so old lately.  The combination of mothering an intense child and being down physically so much myself this year has been very draining.  I have had moments/hours/days over the past year when I truly felt like my life was over.  That it was really all downhill from that point on.  It’s a terrible feeling when you really aren’t that old and you have a small child.

Anyway, for anyone out there with a spirited child… You might find some good encouragement in this book.

And if you don’t have a spirited child, you might find it enlightening as to why your friend with the spirited child finds mothering so much more challenging and draining than you find it with your easy-going child.