Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.

                                                                       ~Plato

I probably shouldn't compare my kids to animals. A super awesome, "I have all my stuff together" mom would never do that. Lucky for me, I am not that kind of mom. I'm a really good mom who also happens to be a bit of a failure and occasionally ends her day in tears wishing that wine didn't taste so darn yucky.

And so I'm okay with comparing my boys to wild animals and I have to say that I wholeheartedly concur with Plato on this one. Having a lion as a pet, while somewhat daunting, in no way would compare to raising these little men. My lion would have to be fed and I would have to clean up after him. And while I would have to worry about his claws and his teeth, I wouldn't have to worry at all about his heart. When he attacks his stuffed teddy bear and rips it to shreds, I wouldn't have to sit down and talk to him about his anger. When he growls at me, I wouldn't have to give him a time-out and then sit and talk to him about how his behavior makes me feel and what it means to treat others with kindness. And no one would expect my lion to be well-behaved.

Compared to everything that I'm expected to do as a mom, that sounds like a cake walk. I can't manage my boys. I can only do my best to keep up with them, love them, teach them, and then get out of the way.

photo by: Cybershot2012  http://www.flickr.com/photos/65769635@N06/5985934280/