It's The Last 15 Minutes That Kill You

Or at least that's how it is in my family.

The last 15 minutes of anything with the kids is 15 mintues past when it should have ended. I'll give you a few examples.

The last 15 minutes of any car ride is 15 minutes too long. Those are the minutes filled with whining, fighting, crying, bathroom stops, vomiting and throwing toys.

The last 15 minutes of any medical or dental appointment is 15 mintues t00 many. Those are the minutes where the kids dismantle an entire medical office, set off alarms, wander down hallways opening doors and shut down whole computer systems.

The last 15 minutes of shopping is 15 minutes of insanity. This is the time you want to pretend that those are someone else's kids. The ones running down the isles tossing items into the cart, or the child lying on the bottom moaning, or maybe the child collecting multiple copies of every coupon from those little blinky things on the shelves. Those really aren't your kids. I know, they aren't mine either.

The last 15 minutes of all craft projects are 15 minutes that can lead to remodeling your home if you aren't careful. Those are the minutes that involve spills. Glue, paint, glitter, google eyes, confetti, sand, pebbles, pom-poms and fake snow. Dust busters are not an all purpose cleaning appliance and not everything that says it's washable is.

The last 15 minutes at the library can involve screaming, tears, lost cards, coats and torn pages. The last 15 minutes of story time always involves a fight or argument. The last 15 minutes of math means the child forgets every math fact he's ever learned including how to write his numbers. The last 15 minutes of any meal or snack means spills and treats for the dog. The last 15 minutes in the bathroom means call a plummer. The last 15 minutes of quiet time, sleeping or napping, means be as loud as humanly possible. The last 15 minutes of getting ready to leave the house means a child isn't or won't get dressed, can't find a shoe and "doesn't know we're going".

The last 15 minutes of my day is the 15 minutes I try to remember how precious it all is. I try to find the joy in it. I try to see them as the amazing critters they are. I try to take a deep breath and set my heart on loving them more the next 15.