The toddler stage will break you.

It will test your patience when you’ve said the same thing over and over and over with no sign of it sinking in.

It will test your sanity in dealing with every very big emotion that exists in such a tiny little body.

It will test your willpower in holding out for them to eat even three bites of a chicken nugget.

It will make you question how long the human body can survive on breakfast sausage and lollipops alone.

It will test your knowledge on all subjects during any one of the 792 questions you’ll be asked by 4 p.m.

It will make you feel guilt like never before. Guilt for raising your voice, for imposing time outs, for handing out ultimatums.

It will doubt your ability to go without coffee or wine for any period of time.

Yes, the toddler stage will break you.

It will make you call out for Jesus more times throughout the day than you thought possible.

It will show you an age where grudges and resentment don’t exist and you wonder why those things even start.

It will bring you more hugs and kisses than you think you deserve but you absolutely need.

It will show you an age that doesn’t care about race, gender, weight, or money.

It will force you to find the positives in tough situations because you don’t want to raise kids who only see the negatives.

The toddler stage will break you and put you back together into a better person than you’ve ever been.

You may also like:

The Secret No One Told Me About the Toddler Years is How Much I Could Absolutely Love Them

Two-Year-Olds Aren’t Terrible, They’re Just Trying to Understand Life

So God Made a Toddler