Two magic words found their way into our home this month via the lips of our previously less than cooperative toddler. It happened one regular evening. The chaos of bath and dinner had mostly subsided and both kids were having a play before bed. I went to put on a load of washing and found our three and a half year old rapt with the empty front loader; putting his toys in and spinning them around. I warned him I’d need to use the machine soon then left him to play dreading the next conversation while considering how long our home could go without clean clothes.
After a couple of minutes I stepped back into the laundry, took a deep breath to steel myself and summoning my best negotiation skills stated calmly, “Okay buddy, time to take the toys out and pop the washing in now.” Pause. Then moments later he said the words. Those magic words all parents wish to hear from their child at any age and stage of life, “Yes mum.”
I was floored when he said it of course but resigned it as a rare exception and not the new rule. So when he continued to show off his new skill the next day at breakfast and leaving the playground the day after I actually allowed myself to feel a wave of relief. This was it. We were passing through the toddler oppositional phase. It didn’t mean the end of tantrums but certainly a whole lot less.
I knew this moment well but had been worried it may never come because in February 2021 I wrote a Village Voice column sharing how my daughter who had been weeks away from turning three, turned a corner suddenly when I asked her to put on her shoes one morning and she said, “Okay mum.”
Back then we were so relieved we were pregnant again shortly after! This time around that won’t be happening, instead suddenly the wider world has opened up. Longer outings are possible, further afield travel. And suddenly the phrase ‘This too shall pass’, has flipped to remind me to celebrate these truly golden years where our young kids want to be around us.
