My Kids are ahead of me... in Age 36

My oldest is 6 and my second is almost 3 in 6 weeks. I only have the two kids. So where do I start? I guess I am feeling like I can’t keep up. Like I don’t know where I should be at with my 6 year old. He’s my first so I’ve never been through the older years before. I know that he’s a child and such, but the bad habits that I am not instilling are starting to manifest.

He’s talking back, he’s being disrespectful to teachers, he’s trying to make himself be heard. I see that. But how do you curtail these habits when you have already tried the usual methods? This has been ongoing for months. My husband and I have tried to talk to him, I have tried grounding him, black outs…you name it. It works for about a minute, then the next day he’s back to doing the same thing. I have tried explaining respect. I have given him examples. I talked to him about not being a smart mouth.

Over all I think what has so anxious about all this is am I doing things right? I try to step back and look at the overall picture. He’s a bright kid. He’s happy. Sociable. Smart. Is he where he “needs” to be at the age of 6? I think I am worrying about something that I won’t know the answer to until he’s much older. There’s more to this, but I also want to move on.

My daughter is whole other beast.

Have you ever heard people say, “If I would’ve had my second first, I wouldn’t have had a second.”

She’s amazing. So full of energy, which in turn drains me. She’s willful, stubborn, and she doesn’t relent. She’ll fight you until you back down. This is actually a great thing, but only when used correctly.

I’m just feeling really.... Defeated. I have no fuel in the tank to continue. My husband is not the most supportive due to him also feeling this way.