When you’re two years old, being asked to wait 5 seconds is paramount to being sentenced to eternity in prison with no chance of parole.
This morning my little angel had in her mind to lay a blanket out on the living room floor. That’s a fun enough place to play. Good for her.
The problem with that scenario is that the idea to do so popped into her adorable little head about 2 seconds before mom was aiming to vacuum that particular room.
At the time, I didn’t know what was happening, but from the other side of the house, through multiple walls and a closed bathroom door, I could immediately tell that a crisis of the highest order was occurring.
What!? You want me to wait!? Nooooo!!!
My wife is so patient and calm. I heard her trying to have a gentle, levelheaded conversation with Miss Panic.
Meanwhile, I started yelling in my classic frustration voice, “Stop whining! You can’t cry just because you’re not getting what you want right now!”
“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”
Ecclesiastes 7:9
Patience is a virtue. I want to teach it to my daughter. Step one: practice it myself.