I'm reading the book "Kid Cooperation: How to Stop Yelling, Nagging, Pleading and Get Kids to Cooperate" by Elizabeth Pantley for a story I'm doing in the next issue of Her Times.

This paragraph made me stop and get out my highlighter yesterday. It's an interesting thought, isn't it?

"Answer the question, What do you call a mother who works outside the home? A working mother, right? Well, what do you call a father who works outside the home? A man with a job? A lawyer, a plumber, a teacher?"

Interesting, isn't it?

According to Pantley, it's proof that "in our society the mother is still, for the most part, considered the primary parent, and is seen as the primarily responsible party for her children's behavior -- even if her husband is a stay-at-home dad."

Every mom who has stood, exasperated, over a wailing, thrashing three-year-old in the middle of some aisle at the supermarket trying desperately to get her child calmed down and back in the cart while all the other customers tisk-tisk and shake their heads at the spoiled brat on the floor, has felt that pressure. The world expects us to make them behave and we wear the weight of their behavior like a yoke. Sometimes it's just too much to bear.

But, it needn't be and I'd highly reccommend you read Pantley's book to find out how to let go of the anger (and how to deal with temper-tantrum-throwing three-year-olds).