I am sure you all know the expression “the calm after the storm”, but in our house we sometimes experience the opposite: a huge storm after the calm. Metaphorically speaking anyway.
Let me give an example.
The most recent example on my mind is our travel experience to and from Canada. The kids are actually mostly very cooperative on our 20+ hour door to door journeys. They miss an entire night sleep, save a few hours curled up in a chair, but are usually excited to get to our destination, and to watch movies, so manage to keep it together. They are even mostly chipper and very sweet. This is the “calm”.
I find the really difficult part comes the day after our arrival. Jet lag truncates another nights sleep, and then their behaviour goes completely haywire. Shouting, fighting, crying, rudeness. Even I want to cry by the end of the day! Here is the “storm”.
You might think I should expect it, but I always fear the journey itself, and breathe a sigh of relief when I make it unscathed. I forget that we have lost 2 nights sleep and face unpacking, adjustment to the weather, missing what was on the other end, etc. and this is when, unexpectedly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the storm hits.
We have to weather a lot of storms as parents, and as much as we try to lay the conditions that avoid them, they can still hit us when we least expect it. Other than sleep deprivation, and jet lag, what’s sets your kids off?