In my e-mail I often get a newsletter from Parents.com. It’s targeted to the age of your child (a great example of how targeted e-mail marketing can work). Today’s newsletter really hit home for me and also made me feel less insane about Arden. I’m not even going to bother to try to explain it - I’ll just post the first paragraph of the article here and let it stand on its own merit. And then I’m going to do as suggested and take a “parent break”.

“Just when you think you have your toddler all figured out, he can turn the tables on you. Even the most mild-mannered 13-month-olds will experiment with ... how shall we say it? ... undesirable behavior. If your normally happy-go-lucky toddler suddenly starts screaming, yelling, biting, and hitting, you can take some solace in knowing that his development is right on track. But that doesn’t make it much easier to deal with. Unfortunately, traditional discipline tactics don’t work very well for this age group, so between keeping your toddler out of the cat food and coping with tantrums, try to take a parent break. You may have to schedule it in advance, but building in some free time for yourself each week is the best way to refuel your patience tank. “