Today was one of those days with my daughter that I think Mother Theresa would have dropped a few F bombs if she’d been babysitting.

Grace has a cold. Her throat hurts. She (I) slept poorly last night. It was getting close to dinner and her ibuprofen was wearing off. Her brothers were hogging the TV. All details were the brewing of a perfect storm. I attempted to hold her to comfort her and she shoved me away shouting, “You’re not making me feel better!” So I left her alone and she chased me to hang on my leg. So I tried to pick her back up and she hung like a dead weight to be let down. Round and round we went.

When I tried to FaceTime Scott who is away hunting, she swatted the phone out of my hand. I had to walk away at this point. She knew she’d pushed too far.

“I’m a bad girl!” she kept wailing.

“No you’re not a bad girl, but you’re making bad choices,” I said calmly.

“No! Only bad girls make bad choices,” she howled.

“No, good people make bad choices too.” I said.

Luke jumped in at this point. Apparently he had been watching the whole thing.

“Grace! You’re not a bad girl. Mom still loves you. But you need to be nicer to her. She’s all by herself and you are making her crazy. Good people make bad choices. It doesn’t make you a bad person. But you need to start choosing better. Now go eat something or take a nap.”

From the mouths of babes…

Later, Grace ate the following: A slice of plain cheese pizza, a piece of toast, half an apple, yogurt with Cheerios on top, Luke’s pepperonis.

As she ate, her voice returned to a non-whiny pitch and my sweet daughter emerged from the blackness.

Later I received this note with a preemptive “Sorry, Mom. I think I was hangry.”

Solidarity, parents. We will get through this…Somehow.