For this week’s Posts of the Week, let’s look at a few moms sharing their perspectives on being the parent of a three-year-old. It can be a trying time—but also a fabulous time for growth and connection.
- The LadyKing at Impossibly Royal writes, in “Me, but Three,” “She’s just LIKE me and I don’t know how to handle her because I don’t know how to handle the parts of myself that she so very clearly is even though she has not one ounce of my blood in her veins.”
- At Confessions of a “None,” friends warned her about the “terrifying threes,” more ominous than the “terrible twos.” She thought she’d escaped, but now, “Three Has Entered the Building“: “It’s like she has held in her three-ness and suddenly its combusted and it’s leaking out by the gallons and exploding all over her moms, the house, the world.”
- Lindsay, at Solo Mama Life, gives us an “Interview with Evelyn: Three Years Old,” the latest in the every-six-month videos of her child. Today her mom’s blog, tomorrow Ellen?
What were your children like at three—or, if they’re not there yet, what fears or hopes do you have for that age? It’s been a while back for me (my son is now 12), but I remember it as an age of mobility and exploration, the challenge of toilet training, and many, many, Thomas the Tank Engine trains. He had tantrums, to be sure, but I’ve either blocked out the worst of them or they weren’t really as bad as all that. Each age has its own obstacles and accomplishments; three seemed to be a time when, fully mobile and talking, his exploration of the world really expanded and he began to process it in words. Sometimes this was difficult, hence the tantrums—but after three came four, and five, and now we’re on the cusp of the teen years. Those of you with three-year-olds: take in every moment, good and bad. It’s a truism, but it’s true: the days are long, but the years are short.