The Apple Fell and It is Near.

My given name is Jennifer Michelle. Only my mom is allowed to call me Jenny, though she has been known to whip out all four names at once often adding on a few extra sir names to my maiden and married at the end for dramatic effect. My friends call me Jenn – with two n’s because it has spunk, and I like to think I do too. I am a Mark lovin’ momma of three. Brendan is 12, Jillian is “six and three quarters,” and Karigan will be 3 tomorrow. My life revolves around these four people. Eventually, I will have my own life back, and I promise I will know how to live life without them under my wing. In the meantime, I thirst for every single drop of life I can soak up through my children’s eyes – truly my favorite thing about motherhood. As an added bonus, the three pairs of glasses I often wear keep me sane and provide many, many moments of comic relief. The first I will share is about tantrums…

I am not sure if geneticists have isolated a tantrum gene, but I am positive one exists. I should preface this story with the little known fact that during my childhood I, yes me, was a professional fit thrower - a tantrum connoisseur, if you will (some may argue that I still manage to pull one out for old times’ sake at least once or twice a month, however, I stand in dispute of that argument.) I remember clearly the first time Jillian dramatically tossed her stiffened torso and flailing limbs to the floor. Shock and Awe, I tell ya, Shock and Awe! I had no other choice but to throw myself down on the floor beside her and laugh. That is, after I grabbed the phone to call my mom and profess my apologies for being so ridiculous in the midst of my own past hysteria. So, Jillian was the first of the three to inherit the gene. Please keep in mind that this insatiable desire to wail and scream in a state of excited anger in order to receive what one wants had to be genetically predispositioned. The reason: As a mother, I became aware that children imitate what they see and I was determined that none of my children would ever witness another child throw a tantrum, therefore avoiding the inevitable mimic. The result: Jillian, at the tender age of 19 months, had never (to my knowledge) witnessed another child act out emotions in this way, and yet, still busted out a full-fledged tantrum. Jillian typically reserves her overwhelming desire to express her emotions in this unacceptable fashion for home, rarely placing her ridiculousness on public display. HOWEVER…last week while at the market, she concocted an epic tantrum, the first in many moons, while in the checkout line. She was tired, she wanted to go ho-ome, and she was going to make sure everyone knew just how she felt. Everyone. So the question for today is:

How do you respond to public displays of tantrum, whether the performer is your child or not?

Normally, when I witness other mothers enduring such behavior from their offspring, I have one of two reactions. If the mother is attentively trying, at least slightly attempting, to nip the tantrum in the bud, even if that means actively ignoring the tantrum (or child) itself; then I try to smile and reassure her by saying, “we’ve all been there. You’re doing great.” The second reaction is set aside for the mother that decides to have a tantrum of her own in response to the outburst from her child(ren). I have been that mother and I know the best thing for any passerby to do is turtle-neck in the opposite direction and keep on walking. The reaction I received last week while I was stumbling (the way you do when you are rushed) to enter in my debit card pin on the keypad in hopes to quickly exit the store and address my daughter’s misbehavior in private was a first and quite unexpected. An older gentlemen riding by in motorized, plug-this-one-in-at-night labeled scooter decided that it was appropriate to discipline my daughter for me. He quickly chastised her for “being bad” and offered to take her outside and “deal with her” for me. I was nearly speechless, but in mom mode I thoughtlessly responded, “I’m sure you get cranky when you are tired too, and hopefully, no one is offering to take you outside.”