The daily defeat

The following is a pretty good encapsulation of how I’m currently experiencing parenting.

Child A is harassing Child B in the living room. (Specifically, Child A is loudly telling Child B not to use his [Child A’s] marker.) My suggestion to Child A that he use one of our other 49 markers is ignored; Child A continues to hector Child B. I ask Child A to leave Child B alone; he continues to ignore me. I calmly carry Child A back to the bedroom in order to provide Child B with some tranquility.

A few seconds later, Child B angrily arrives in the bedroom to berate me for leaving the living room without permission. “You almost scared me to death!” Child B snarls accusingly.

I try to explain to Child B that I was trying to protect him from Child A, but he doesn’t buy it. “You almost scared me to death!” he repeats, still furious.

Meanwhile, now that Child B is back in range of Child A, Child A resumes his harassment of Child B.

I take a step forward, about to intervene again, and then I stop, throw up my hands, and, feeling angry and sad, declare defeat once again.