"I'll just have to be 15 minutes late"

There is something about being in the trenches that allows you to see with a clarity that is otherwise hard to achieve. Sometimes, when chaos is king and the sh*t is hitting the fan (figuratively, and maybe literally), you have an unexpected eye-of-the-storm moment where you are reminded of what is really important.

This was illustrated beautifully by a mom in our Ask the Chicks forum who shared with us an all-too-familiar experience that resonated deeply with everyone who read it. Her message is simple, important, and worthy of being read any day of the week.

You know sometimes you just need to take a deep breath and say to yourself, “I’ll just have to be 15 minutes late.”

As I’m trying to scramble this morning to get LO’s bag ready, milk ready, get her dressed, and change her diaper (not including getting myself ready), she screamed the whole time. Not fussing, but screamed. We both had almost NO SLEEP, so I knew she was just tired.

Once we were all ready, I put her in her car seat and she fought me. Arching her back, crying and screaming... I strapped her in and I started to tear up with frustration because I was also tired.

I get her all hooked up and all three bags on my arms and the keys in my hand, and I just looked at her and set everything down. I said “Well, we will just have to be 15 minutes late.”

I put the car seat down, unhooked her, took her out and sat on the floor near the front door and just held her. She took a deep breath and snuggled her head into my neck and stopped crying. We sat there for 15 minutes and when it was time, I hooked her back in and she gave me the biggest toothless smile and we went on our way.

So what I learned was sometimes Monday mornings you just need to take a deep breath and be 15 minutes late.

Truer words have never been spoken! And I think we can all agree that this logic can be applied to any day of the week.

A special thanks to Sarah J. for sharing her message with us and allowing us to publish it here.

Have you had a moment of clarity that changed the way you parent?

We'd love to hear about it in the comments!

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