Mama Mantra: The Raccoon Stage

Posted January 18, 2017 by Prairie Wife - 6 comments

Usually, our Mama Mantra posts have to do with a phrase or belief that we moms and Prairie Wives have…

This time though I’m using it to help explain a stage, The Raccoon Stage.

You know, that stage where your child is into everything, just like a Raccoon.

You turn around for five seconds to stir the food on the stove, and they’ve emptied the clean dishes from the dishwasher onto the floor.

Take a minute to pee (because you haven’t gone to the bathroom in five hours), and they get a loaf of bread off the counter and open it under the table and it all “accidentally falls out.”

There are certain things you must do to keep your kiddos safe during this stage, like putting child safety locks on cupboards and keeping money and other chokeables out of reach. Then there are times when you realize that with five kids, you can throw away all the super balls, Barbie shoes, and little tiny toys in the world, and they can still find one stuck in a heater vent.

Or, you walk around the corner and find out your little Raccoon has learned how to open the pantry door and help herself to a snack.

You go through the whole house and lock up every marker you can find and threaten your older Cowkids with death if they don’t put them back when they’re done…only to find out that your Raccoon has found an unopened pack of dry-erase markers in her middle school brothers room, and taken the honor of breaking them (and the closet door) in.

The truth about The Raccoon Stage is you have to work through it and hope it is over quickly. I’ve scolded and disciplined LittleMissH, made her clean up her messes, and tried to limit her ability to do damage to herself and my home. LittleMissH’s raccoon stage has lasted abnormally long and been particularly destructive. She’s so dang quiet, is the problem! She “painted” her fingernails and legs and re-painted her toes while sitting amidst the whole family as we watched TV.

The worst so far was when she opened a brand new jar of honey, twisted off the lid, removed the glued-on safety seal, dumped it out on the floor…and proceeded to ice-skate in it.

This, too, shall pass. And at least my pics have kept many other people amused on Facebook. Each day, it’s something else, and I love that little girl.

I’m hoping that when she grows up, she’ll take all this experimenting and become a Nobel Prize winning chemist.

What have your kids done to you and/or your home during The Raccoon Stage?

Categories: Life As It Happens, Parenting

Tags: , child safety, funny, mama mantra, parenting, pictures, support, the raccoon stage, toddler trouble, toddlers