Do you sometimes feel

like you just suck as a parent?

I am pretty sure that I'm not the worst one out there, but the last few days have been very long, and at the end of the day, I think that I just might suck at parenting.

I don't know if it's the ages (5 & 3), or if they both just happen to be in some sort of phase at the same time ... but it feels like more often than not I find myself correcting inappropriate behavior (hanging from the refrigerator doors/handles, going through my scrapbook things, sassy back talk, etc) and then it tends to carry on throughout the day. It feels like it's just one after another ... stop teasing your sister, you stop whining at him and I in return, don't shut the door on your sister when she is trying to go potty in the bathroom without the light on, you need to do what I tell you to do, no, you may not go and play in the front yard without me, why, because I'm cooking dinner, but you may go in the backyard where I can watch you, well then, you'll have to stay inside while I'm making dinner .... no, you may not have applesauce for dinner, you need to eat something else first, etc etc etc

I want to enjoy the days with them before they start back up in school, because once school starts, Q is committed every day, there are no more jaunts to the zoo on a moments notice or trips to Grama & Poppa's house when we feel like it. Once the end of August gets here, we're back on a much stricter schedule.

Big sigh ...

I don't know what it is ... maybe we all just need a vacation, but with the way that these two are acting, I don't really want to take them anywhere.

We'll see how it turns out ... at this point, I don't think it can get much worse.

Can it?