It's Day One of Ten Days of Delighting in Your Preschooler! Welcome, and I hope this series proves to be helpful to you. Most of what I'm going to share will be simple, perhaps in the "no-brainer" category, but if you're like me, you find it difficult to delight in a preschooler who has tried your patience for the better part of the morning. Ten days of quick, easy-to-pull-off ideas to help you find joy in those little people might just be the ticket!

But here's the thing: it's really, really, really difficult to delight in a preschooler who is not obedient at least most of the time. It's difficult to delight in a preschooler who pushes every button, all day long. And in some kind of cruel twist of fate, that precocious preschooler is probably also the one who doesn't nap anymore, either. Right?

So here's where my 19 years of parenting experience just might help. You need to set boundaries. Period. There's just no getting away from it, and it really doesn't matter what method you use as long as you establish that you are the mom and your preschooler is the child.

Mighty Joe's big new thing is to say to me, "I'm the mom. You the Joe." It's super cute, and I look into those beautiful blue eyes and think, "You don't even know, buddy. I'll happily take a nap and you can homeschool the other kids!" But the truth is, every preschooler thinks he or she wants to be the mom. The problem, of course, is that they just can't be. The bigger problem is we know that, but then we get tired or lazy or exasperated and just give in.

Don't give in, mama! Stand your ground! Pray and ask God to give you the help you need.

This morning I stood in the kitchen feeling defeated. It was just 9 a.m., and I thought, "If this is how the day is going to go, I give up." In my weakness, standing right there next to the cabinet, gathering the ingredients for my protein shake, I whispered feebly, "Peace? God, I need your peace."

He gives lavishly. He is faithful. He is the epitome of peace, and He can help us set the boundaries our preschoolers need. Now go be the mom!

The 10 Days Series is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects. Visit us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. And of course, click the image below to visit all the 10 Days posts from these homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network. You'll be blessed with tips on how to handle bad days, cultivating curiosity, teaching with Legos, and much much more!

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