Six Shots Deep

Raising Children, The Difficut Way

"Bria!" I heard Arthur yell. Next thing I saw was our four year old daughter run towards the back door. And then a grown man chase after her.

I laughed as I walked to the kitchen. Eugene was reaching towards a shelf of cookies. I smirked and crossed my arms. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Mommy, I want a snack!" He pouted.

"Then why don't we try asking, hm?" I crouched down to his level. "Now, what can I get for you, Eugene?"

"Can I have a cookie?" He looked up at me with doe eyes.

"What do we say when we ask for something?"

"Please?"

I smiled. "Why, of course you can!" I took a cookie down and handed it to him. "What do we say?"

"Thank you, mommy." He took a big bite.

"You're very welcome, sweetheart." I kissed his forehead and walked towards the back door where Bria and Arthur ran out to. I saw Arthur still chasing Bria as she ran to Nightmare. She had a stick in her hand and was waving it towards Arthur. I shook my head as Abigail joined me.

"A forty year old man chasing after a four year old," she chuckled, "and it's looks like she's winning."

"Oh, for sure," I laughed, "Bria has Arthur wrapped around her little finger."

She chuckled again. "She definitely does," she looked down as Eugene joined us. "And this one here is getting to be too big." She lifted Eugene into her arms.

Bria suddenly ran towards me. Before she could go past, I quickly grabbed the stick from her tiny hands. She looked up at me and stuck out her lip.

And then she screamed.

Full on four year old tantrum.

"Woah, hold your horses there," I crouched down to her level, "now," I lifted her head, "stop crying, Bria."

She continued to scream. I rolled my eyes and looked at her sternly. "Beatricia Irene." She stopped her screaming, but continued to cry. I raised my eyebrow. "There ain't no need for that, now." I lifted her up. "Why was daddy chasing you?"

"Because, I-I-"

"Slow your breathing, Bria," I cooed, "take a deep breath."

She sniffled and took in a huge breath as I did. She let it out slowly, following my lead. I wiped a tear that fell and she started again.

"Because I hit daddy in the leg."

I nodded. "Yeah. And what are we not supposed to do, Bria?"

"Not supposed to hit daddy."

"That's right." I pushed a curly blonde piece of hair behind her ear. "Now, how about we apologize to daddy for hitting him, hm?"

"Okay," she sniffled again as I set her down. Arthur came walking over to us and I placed my hands on my hips as Bria looked up at me. I raised my eyebrow again. She nodded and looked over to Arthur. "I'm sorry I hit you, daddy."

"That's alright, honey." Arthur lifted up Bria and she hugged him tightly around his neck. He chuckled and rubbed her back. "I forgive you."

I smiled and looked over to Abigail, who still had Eugene in her arms. She smirked and set him down, pulling me to the side.

"If I weren't mistaken, I'd say you two have had kids before," she chuckled, "you're raising two kids better than I did with one."

I shrugged. "I'm going over how my parents raised me."