I don't know if it is the stress of the holidays or maybe even the stress of the economy, but I am sort of caught up in so much conflict right now with people.

Nothing major - my mother and I had a disagreement and she snapped at me. She has been so cranky lately and I am just sick of it. She complains about her job a ton and how overwhelmed she is. But, she has been like this for most of her life.

I am in a playgroup and we met this past week. My son is 2. Another 2 year old was hitting and one mom was yelling at the kid (the hitter). It has turned our group into drama! We all don't agree on how to handle the situation. The mother doesn't think she was yelling, but some of us do.

My husband and I have even been bickering. Nothing major, but I think we both need a date night.

My 2 year old son, totally whiny and difficult right now, but what 2 year old isn't?

I really hate all this chaos and just want to focus on the spirit of the holiday. I must admit I have been feeling down. I keep looking at myself to see what I am doing to attract this drama in my life.

Can anyone else relate?

I feel like that almost everyday, though it's mostly due to conflict with my kids, sometimes hubby, though I do have those days where it seems all the stupid drivers on the road are near me, and I always get in the check-out line that has either the stupidest cashier, or the stupidest customer in front of me. The conflict at home is the worst. I'm always either fighting with my teenage daughter, getting aggrevated with my 6 yo son, or more often, the two kids constantly fighting with each other. If they were closer in age and size, I'd just lock 'em in a room and let them fight it out once and for all!

I can relate to the playgroup situation. When my daughter was around 2 she was in a playgroup that had a mother and son with some serious issues. She had a second child only 16 months after the first, and the older son was totally neglected, got absolutely no discipline, and was pathologically jealous of the baby. Another mom and I witnessed him stomp on the baby, and when we told his mother, she totally blew it off, dispite how vicious and disturbing it was. This kids was a major bully, biting and hiting others all the time, and his mother did nothing. I know he was acting out because he was totally neglected. His mom spent all her time scrapbooking, and ignored the kids. She was more interested in having these lovely scrapbooks of her kids, then the actual kids. The playgroup eventually fell apart because no one could deal with it anymore.

I wouldn't like someone else raising their voice to my child if it was a first offense and I was there to handle it. But, on the other hand, if another kid had a pattern of physical aggression and his mother saw it and did nothing, I would step in and be VERY firm (though not yell) if he touched my child a second time.

Thanks Jen. I am not letting this get me down. I am trying to keep in mind the spirit of the season. Not every person is driving me insane. It just seems to be the ones that I see the most often lately. LOL!

Thanks for sharing your playgroup story. The little boy in my case is an only child and he wasn't terrorizing the group or anything. The same moms complaining are also the ones who forget when their children hit at one time. All children hit, it is up to the mom to deal with it appropriately, like you said.

Anyhow, maybe many people are all just stressed, like I said. I am looking to make this a wonderful week for me and my family.

Nice to know that my kids aren't the only ones acting up! I swear, this is the first day of the Holiday vacation from school and Im ready for them to go back already. Between the constant fighting and tattling, and them running up and down the halls ( our neighbours must think we have a herd of cattle in here). I'm ready to pull all of my hair out! And they seem to do it most when Im in the middle of something that I can't stop!

I was making lollipops today and they got into the biggest argument over who was the smartest! GEEZ!!!! Makes me want to buy a treadmill and have them run until they collapse from exhaustion!

Geesh, dealing with a 2 year old without the holiday stress is bad enough! I have an 18 month grandson and he wears me out! Throw in gen'l husband-isms and a whiny mother ... heck, I'd probably shoot myself!

As I've gotten older, I've learn how to spend my energy. We know one lady who is always a little dramatic ..... we could either be stressed out over her antics, or we can do what we've learned to do, which is just sit back and watch the show. We know it's coming .. pass the popcorn!

So we don't "dread" the holidays and family get-togethers. We make a game out of it by predicting which uncle will fall asleep at the table, who's kid will have the cheesiest christmas outfit, which niece will be patronizing and cutesy to the other nieces, who will gramma be snide to first. I'm tellin' ya ... when you view it as a circus sideshow, it's so much less stress!! Instead of ticking you off, they end up entertaining you instead!

LOL! Thanks indydebi, great advice.