Are We There Yet?

Happy Monday!  Anna and I are coming off of a very fun weekend. We took a road trip to visit Uncle Keith and had a fabulous time! I just wanted to send him a big "thank you" for having us visit and for being patient with a certain super energetic three-year-old.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that with every trip we take, a theme for the weekend seems to emerge. Perhaps this is because Anna's growth and development is moving faster and becoming more pronounced....or maybe it's just random, who knows.

Look out, everyone! Here she comes!

The last time we visited Uncle Keith was in the summer. Whenever we go down, we're there for just a weekend - long enough for it to be fun, but not so long that it's utterly exhausting for our hosts! For some reason, the theme of our summer weekend visit was, perhaps not surprisingly, "No." Not just no as in no thanks, but no as in the royal NO. I believe you can see the expression that accompanied the "no" in the awesome movie trailer put together by Uncle Keith, entitled "Anna's Rule."

In the last six months or so, Anna has evolved a bit, as one might expect. While she still loves to say "no" (especially, it seems, when it's bedtime), she doesn't use it for everything.  On our visit this past weekend, the theme was, "Wait." As in, please try to be patient.  And this is where you wonderful readers come in. How do you teach your children about the concept of patience?

I should admit that I am horribly impatient - when I want something, I want it now. And while I've learned over the years that I can't always have what I want when I want it (if I ever get it), that doesn't mean I'm thrilled about the wait. So I'm wondering how my impatient self can impart an understanding of being patient to a kid who, like most of us, wants everything yesterday.

This awesome travel center had a train!

Of course, the traditional patience issue with kids and road trips is, "Are we there yet?" And I did get some of that on the way home. For some reason the trip back home always seems longer to me than the trip to the destination.  But that was nothing compared to some of the other struggles with waiting during the weekend.

Here's a minor example of the patience problem:  Anna and I are riding in the car with Uncle Keith, en route to the mall for lunch.  Anna: "I want my pretzels."  Mama T: "I'm sorry, honey, they are back at Uncle Keith's house."  Anna: "But I want them!"  Mama T: "I know, but they aren't here in the car. We don't have them."  Anna: "But I want them NOW!"  Mama T: "We're going to get some yummy food in just a few minutes, and if you're still hungry when we get back, you can have them then."  Anna: "Aaaaaaaah!" (Crying, wailing, end of world ensues.)

Now, in her defense, it was probably almost time for a nap that she didn't have.  But what I found interesting about this situation is that it wasn't like I was refusing her something I could access - the pretzels weren't even in the car. There was no way I could make them magically appear. And still, she cried as if I was purposely withholding something she wanted and it was the worst moment ever.

The impatience scenario repeated itself a number of times over the weekend:  while waiting to be seated in a restaurant, while waiting for our food in that restaurant, while trying to talk over whoever was speaking at the time, while wanting Uncle Keith to sit and watch a movie with us even though he was trying to cook dinner, while asking Uncle Keith to put together the cardboard house he keeps for her to play in, even though we had no time to do it, or it was bedtime and needed to wait until the next day...etc.

I found myself struggling to explain that sometimes we have to wait for the things we want. In some moments, Anna appeared to understand....and in others, I may as well have been speaking a foreign language.  Like so many things, I know this will just take time. At the very least, we discovered that impatience is tiring!

Do you have any ideas about how to teach our kids that it's okay to have to wait sometimes?