Containment

So the word containment can be utilized to refer to anger, frustration, happiness, laughter, the kids, etc. You get my point. So today I am going to talk about all of the above.

First, containment of anger. Those of us that have kids in daycare know we all have issues with certain aspects of the facility. Whether it be small (attitude) to major (injury), we all have issues. Well today I am trying to CONTAIN my anger with regard to an injury Kaidynce has sustained at daycare. Last night after Aaron had given her a bath and dressed her, she came running into my room to play with me. I noticed her ear had a spot on it, which at first I thought was dirt that daddy missed. Upon further inspection, I noticed the ugliest bruise over the top of the ear. My first thoughts were:
"What happened?"
"What did we miss during the kids fighting?"
"Did daycare say anything?"
"Honey, do you know what happened?"

The answer to all of the above were "NO" and so then came the thought process. Aaron and I went back and forth over the possibilities of what happened for an hour. This morning I asked the teachers if she had an accident at daycare only to be told, "oh yeah, she fell yesterday and hit her ear." This was before I showed them what I was referring to. HELLO - don't you think you should have mentioned it to us. Hence the containment of anger came in since they take care of my kids for eight hours a day.

Next, the containment of frustration. This happens in our house daily at meal time. Aaron and I get frustrated with the kids and their lack of eating habits but we CONTAIN our frustration to the best of our abilities. This might be through a channel between our eyes (we have to maintain eye contact and not break) or it might mean taking a break from the table.

Containment of happiness is a harder one because you want to show your happiness for people. But when the happiness comes during the frustration at the table, you have to contain it so that the children do not feed from it. For example, when Kaidynce uses a new word in sign language or says a new word that we have not heard, or Brennan sings an entire song by himself that we and daycare have been singing to him, while we are extremely happy, we cannot let him know that he will get out of not eating his dinner.

Laughter has to be the most difficult to contain. And when I say laughter, I mean the laughs that come from deep down in the belly. And with my kids, this happens frequently. Brennan was worried sister's pee pee fell off in her belly button and I lost it. I could not contain it. Or when he thinks that if he gets off the bed the dinosaurs will get him and eat his butt, I laugh hysterically. Or when Kaidynce just gives us a look that tells us she is goofing off. Or when she comes out of the bedroom with her shorts around her ankles, shirt around her neck, and her diaper hanging off her butt (she is teaching herself to dress/undress), you can't help but laugh. But then again, you are a parent and have to maintain control and containment right? So how do you do this when things are absolutely hilarious? Well you cover your mouth and pretend to cough and hope that the kids don't catch on.

And as discussed above, containment can also refer to containing the kids. Whether it be in a dog crate such as the case on mother's day when I turned around and the kids were sitting quietly in Turbo's crate, or on the couch watching the electronic babysitter, containment of kids should be enjoyed! To an extent of course because then the anger, frustration, happiness, and laughter tend to take over and the containment of children itself is long forgotten.