I was reading some back posts on a blog that I just subscribed to, and I came across an account of the wild antics of the author's toddler. This isn't the first time I've read these types of posts, and I am always amazed. My kids didn't get into that much trouble as toddlers. ABM and I tell the same few stories about the kids' preschool behavior because they were so calm that those are the only stories that stick out in our memories.
Perhaps our attitude of laissez-faire as parents has something to do with how we remember their toddler years. ABM's approach to parenting is to prohibit any toys that will annoy him or require excessive cleanup on his part. The path to sanity for me was to put everything on a high shelf and then let the kids run free. The combination of the two meant that there wasn't a lot of frenzied running around after babies. My kids are actually messier now than they were at age two. The good thing is that they are old enough to clean up those messes!
My kids' temperament comes more from God than our skill as parents, though. You know the old saying, "God doesn't give us more than we can bear"? I believe this applies to me and my kids. God knew that I wouldn't be able to handle your standard high-energy child, so he didn't give me any of those. I have to remind myself of this fact often when I am tempted to blame a child's crazy behavior on bad parenting.
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