My three-year-old son drives me up the wall, but I still love him

Recently, my three-year-old son came home from school with one shoe.

I was shocked because after getting used to seeing him come home with unbuttoned shirts and no shoe laces, I thought I had seen the worst of what school had to offer. Obviously, I was wrong.

I still remember the first day I took him to school. He cried for a tyre after he saw some children playing with one. The next day, he refused to go to school and insisted that we buy him a car since I had often told him that when he went to school, he would get money to buy a car.

I also remember the day he proudly brought home a picture of a fish he had coloured pink. He showed it to everyone and announced that that was what they had learnt in school that day.

Getting him to do his homework is always a nightmare. My son detests homework, and to make matters worse, he is always losing his school bag. I have had to put aside extra money every month to buy pencils, since he manages to lose one every day.

And did I mention that he often tears a page from one of his exercise books to make a jet? I do not know about yours, but my boy is not bothered by nudity.

The other day, he gleefully ran around the school compound stark naked after pouring food all over his clothes. His teacher had undressed him so that she could clean the mess.

Getting him to take an afternoon nap is an uphill task. A week ago, when he was asked to take a nap, he instead took his bag and informed the teacher that he was going home.

What about that time he threatened the boy who beat him to position one? He told him that if he took position one again, he would practise his karate skills on him.

Oh, I forgot to tell you how difficult it is to get him to wake up in the morning. It seems that this is when sleep is sweetest. Getting him to dress and take his breakfast of course takes a century. I also suspect that he takes pleasure in splashing in dirty water and playing in mud to make washing his uniform extra hard for me.

This boy of mine would rather write on walls than in his books and due to this, I find myself scrubbing the walls almost every day. Believe you me, I punish him, but this does not seem to help because he is soon up to some other mischief.

“Let boys be boys,” is a quote that has found new meaning in my life since he began his quest for knowledge. No matter how furious I get sometimes, he still remains my child.

I have decided that what he needs are more role models than criticism, so I will try not to shout or scream whenever he does something that he should not be doing. From now on, instead of spanking him, I will try to explain why what he did was wrong and patiently steer him the right way.

I believe my child is an uncut diamond. He may have his shortcomings, but he is the only thing that I would want to take with me to heaven eventually.

I have realised that few people, (or only you) will have the patience to persevere your child’s behaviour, so you cannot afford to give up on him. What is important to remember is that everything you do for your child is worthwhile. And no, the headaches and heartaches they give you will not last forever.

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