Help! I am a parent

Help! Help! Yes those can be cries of a parent. I have attended a few parenting classes at church and begun reading a great book.

A must read!

 

 My hubby and I started reading this book yesterday. I could not get through the introduction without some tears. We have reached more obstacles in the past few weeks with our son. Yesterday he threw sand at a boy at the park (the boy did nothing wrong- from what I could see). My son and I immediately left the scene. I power walked back to our home with a screaming toddler strapped into the stroller and I was determined that not only was his punishment not getting to play at the park but also sitting on time out. After his two minutes were up my son apologized to me and he also said that he wanted to apologize to the boy. Mind you I briefly said sorry and removed my child as quickly as I could.

I'm pretty sure every parent has faced difficulties with their child at one point or another but recently I have been breaking down. Exactly when does this parenting thing get easier? Oh right, N-E-V-E-R! There will be good days and on the bad days I need to learn to be calm and not stress over it. Easier said than done! Being a mom of a little boy has some challenges- his activity level is on 10 all the time even when I wish it would mellow down to a level 3. Since the weather is still nice in Southern California I have let him run around in the backyard to burn off some energy.

Any great parenting tips? What has worked and what has not?