"No, I won't go!"

"I want that toy ~ I'm not leaving until I get it!"

Have you heard these statements before?

What happens when you refuse to give in?

Enter now ~ crying, whining, screaming, laying on the floor, kicking....sigh.....the "joys" of a temper tantrum.

My children both went through this stage. It was not easy, embarrassment seemed a daily occurrence at times. I wish I could say I was always strong and won all the battles, but I can't.

My daughter recently had one of these moments, my brother was visiting.....and we were in the middle of a retail store. Sigh. I am not very tall, and can not carry either of my kids anymore (especially when they're having a temper tantrum). So my brother "threw" her over his shoulder and carried her out while my son and I followed. I was yet again, embarrassed.

It had been at least a couple years since I'd had to do this. Something my brother said struck me that day. He told my daughter that it didn't embarrass him to carry her out ~ that everyone was looking at her ~ not him. I had never thought of it that way. I have always imagined people staring at me and talking about what a bad mom I must be. This didn't make the situation better or go away, yet it provided a different look at the moment though.

As I am writing this, I'm thinking about the different ways we as adults throw temper tantrums.

We are selfish, impatient, unkind, unloving humans at times ~ just like our children.

We don't always do what God desires of us.

Doesn't that make us disobedient, selfish and unloving towards our Father?

We don't use kind and loving words when speaking to our children all the time.

When someone does something or says something that hurts us, are we patient and forgiving?

Sometimes we are all the good things ~ patient, kind, loving, selfless, etc. Yet our first reaction I fear many times is like a stomp of the foot, a pout, maybe even an angry word or two.

We may be "adults", but we still suffer from temper tantrums in and of ourselves. God must chuckle to Himself I think, when we get so wound up and upset while our lil ones have a temper tantrum. He sees us having our own, just in a different "adult" kind of way.

So, the next time your lil one has a temper tantrum or melt down ~ stop and ask God for the same measure of grace, mercy and forgiveness He shows you.