I thought it wasn’t going to happen. For a moment there I was under the impression she would always stay my sweet little girl. But then almost of the blue, it hit, like thunder. She was kicking and screams her discontent at the top of her lungs. Mother of all tantrums. And I knew the terrible twos have arrived. A bit late, but were here now with all the mighty force.

Every parent hates the terrible twos, hence the name. I am usually not the glass is half full type of person, more like the glass is broken and that little water that was in it, is now dripping all over my floor, but there must be a reason for all that drama, right. So, perhaps I should try to find it and be happy we have reached such an important milestone, even though I am contemplating escape routes every time it happens. OK, fair enough. I have given this a whole lot of thought, it’s really extremely hard to love the terrible twos, but for the heck of it, let’s give it a try.

• The reign of terror

At one point I was looking at my sweet little girl and I caught myself thinking: »Sweetie, if you hold all this in all the time, what the heck are you going to do to us once you hit puberty? You’ll be spitting fire.« No one should be holding discontent in for too long. If she did it for more than ten years, I’d literally be afraid to go to sleep.

• Practice makes perfect

Beginning with the terrible twos and ending hopefully with puberty, you slowly pace yourself. You learn as you go along. I mean if after twelve years of living with an angel one day you woke up next to a demon, you might find yourself completely baffled on what to do. This way you have no misconceptions about your kids and you are slowly figuring out the answers on how to handle it all and no run out of the house screaming.

• Let it go

Kids are growing up, forming their personality. Yeah, I know it looks ugly, almost like the snakes shedding their skin, but it does mean they will soon, like in another five years be more independent and in ten, they won’t want to be even seen with you. Luckily, you will finally have the time to have all the coffee, dinners with your partner, read the unfinished books, and do all your hobbies…

• It’s all uphill from here.

After dealing with terrible twos and the imminent tantrums there is really not much you can’t handle. Nothing can be worse, not your colleagues, boss or customers, because nobody really will throw themselves on the floor, scream for so long you forget what is was that started it and then for no particular reason just calm down as if nothing happened. Besides even if they did, that’s really nothing you haven’t seen thus far, right.

• Bla, bla, bla

Honestly, it’s really hard for me to keep a positive spin on this. There is really no reason to love the terrible twos, except for the fact that they will pass. But not as quickly as one might hope, as my eldest proved, terrible twos last well into the terror threes and frightful fours and so on until you hit puberty. But I am going to keep loving it, because as they say what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.