Tantrums and Teachings

After spending a day shopping, cleaning, cooking, playing, teaching, punishing, putting down, picking up and caring for my children I realized I had learned a lot about myself and my health. Bare with me. At about 11:15 am I was greeted by three of the most temperamental, angry, and impatient children I had ever been given the joy to see. I was certain the child's care they had just come from had spent the better part of the morning brainwashing my kids to disregard anything I said and answer with whining. After whipping out my best parenting skills I determined that either my children were hungry or reverse brainwashing was a must. Twenty minutes later and lunch beginning to digest, my angels (a bit of an exaggeration) were back. We piled into the car and headed home. After an hour or so, my angels had started to melt down again. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Nap time it is! Honestly, I thought to myself I need a moment to breath and decompress so it's a great time for eyes to be closed, mouth's to be shut and silence to be had. An hour and a half later, upon arousing from their slumber my children were back to hugs and kisses mode. Why have I taken the time to fill you in on the Carstensen's Carnival Ride? Because, I realized many of us behave the same way. We walk around under rested and wonder why we have very little patience with the world around us. We make excuses that the must do's certainly outweigh the importance of sleep. We slam another shot of espresso and carry on. We refuse to take the time to feed our selves healthy food. Or, quite frankly, some of us refuse to feed ourselves at all. Hours have passed by, our blood sugar has dropped and we are walking around like angry-at-the-world zombies. If you are sitting there thinking to yourself, "That's not me. I do great on only a few hours of sleep. And, I don't even feel hungry let alone impatient from not eating." Let me be frank with you. You are that person. You may not feel it. You may not see it. But it's there staring us square in the eyes. Our bodies are an amazing thing. Most of us have become numb to the feeling of hunger or tiredness. We don't even know how good we would actually feel and function if we were giving ourselves the rest and nutrition we dearly need.

At fear of throwing ourself to the floor kicking and screaming like a four year old, I suggest you start taking care of yourself. Start by adding breakfast back in your day. Or, maybe increase your measly four hours of sleep to six. Seven to nine hours of sleep is what our bodies need to function. And those of you that live your world in a gray and grumpy haze; I suggest you shoot for nine. The next time you get a chance to spend the day with a child, yours or someone else's, I suggest you don't plan to skip meals or nap time. I assure you that loudly, uncontrollably, fitfully and with great urgency you will be reminded. Good luck!