Last week I overheard eight-year-old Stephen calling five-year-old Joseph a scaredy cat. I jumped to the little guy’s defense. I reminded Stephen that he, not Joseph, is the one who comes to our room at night frequently with bad dreams. Stephen sighed a world-weary sigh, and his shoulders sagged dramatically.
"Mom," he explained sadly, "I’ve lived a lot longer than Joseph, and I have a lot more experience with this world."
Parents, be warned. Evidently the years between kindergarten and 2nd grade are a wasteland of joy-sapping despair.
Rocks In My Dryer 
Oh dear heavenly Father, then I have a whole other year of this to go with Emme. Most nearly every day I hear, “Mom, this is the worst day of my whole life!” “Oh no”, I reply, “You’ve had worse.” The drama. It’s too much to bear. Heavy sigh.
Oh Shannon, I wholeheartedly relate. We reach the “depths of despair” ala Anne Shirley about 6 out of every 7 days around the Peachy house. My seven year old is even taking cues from his 8 yr. old sister and joining in the drama more often than not.
Can you hear the joy being sucked out of our lives all the way in OK?
Maybe I should stop whining about the toddler years and just enjoy the moments of pure, undadultrated toddler joy. Sounds like it gets more complicated. Actually, I’m pretty sure I remember being a bit of a drama queen. I told my mom one time, “I’m so stupid”. She said, “Don’t ever say that again. You’re just looking for attention” which wasn’t exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for.
oh my gosh….i can so see my nearly 6 yr old saying that…she already tells me ‘THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY WHOLE LIFE”
sigh…..
well we wouldnt trade any of it..
Celina in Canada
“a wasteland of joy-sapping despair” – CRACKED. ME. UP.
Classic.
Oh yikes, that applies to me and my boys.
Wasteland! I snorted my coffee!
Love it. “a lot more experiences in this world” LOL!!
My favorite is when my 7-y/o says, “When I was just a little kid…”
I think my seven year old is more aware of the dangers in the world than my 4-almost-5 year old. And has a more active imagination. Ergo, more scary dreams.
I can’t get enough of your boys’ quotes. They are hiarious.
Too funny! It’s gotta be hard to be 8 : )-
“wasteland of joy-sapping despair” – HA!!!
My seven year old requires the protection … uh, I mean the presence of her three year old sister when going into the playroom in our basement.
Yeah, Shannon. He has BEEN there. Duh! :>)
Thanks for the laugh. That was great!
“… a wasteland of joy-sapping despair…”. I’m not much of a laugher-out-louder, but that got me good!
LOL, the “wasteland of joy-sapping despair” has me laughing so hard, especially since I have an 8 year old. I love when he talks about how “good life was when he was little” and how he didn’t know he had it so good. No homework, no chores, no showers (he had baths), and he didn’t have to learn spelling words. LOL
Well, all that learning to write in cursive in the first grade could sap the joy out of anyone.
Oh my! LOL I’ll make a note of it but it’s (thankfully apparently) 5 yrs away! *wink*
My word, life as an eight year old… yep, it sure is hard living in this world for eight whole years. I mean, the things you’ve seen and done and the places you’ve been. It does just rob one of their joy, doesn’t it? 😀
Madison once told me she had waited her whole life for this certain toy….she was only 4 yrs old…..rather funny though.
Thanks for letting me know that they only get more wity and “know it all”. That’s too funny!
I wish I was blogging when my two were younger! I wrote some of the quotes down, but blogging is such an AWESOME way to capture those moments! Who can trust their memories to recite these gems even 5 years later?
Way.Too.Adorable.
Oh my goodness, my husband and I are laughing out loud. The things we have to look forward to! Your poor, poor, grown-up boy! 🙂
That’s good! I’m looking forward to those days. My kids are 4 and almost 2.
Good advice about Psalms! I’m sorry you are not yourself. I’ll be praying for you this month! Spring is on its way,my dear! Endure!
Kim
LOL that is hilarious!