Four for Four at 4:00

I've been doing this mothering thing for 13 years now (I'm rounding up by a few weeks). I'm not a professional, but I'm no longer a rookie. I'm somewhere in between. What does that make me? Intermediate?

The point is, I know some stuff. But I still have a lot to learn.

One thing I'm wondering as an intermediate mother is whether my kids will outgrow the witching hour. I've been enduring the 4 p.m. hell fest for a really long time, and it doesn't seem to have any end in sight. All of my kids from Nicky at age 13 to Eva at age 4 are still regular participants in the witching hour. The only consolation is that sometimes one or two of my kids will be mildly pleasant while the others are going ballistic, so it's not four for four at 4:00 every day.

Common behaviors during the witching hour as of late include:

• Rifling through cupboards looking for food while dinner is under way, and they've been fed a sufficient snack immediately after school
• Arguing with each other over really stupid things. Real life example from today: are we having sloppy joes for dinner on Saturday or Sunday? Nicky says Saturday. Daisy says Sunday. (Who cares? It's Thursday!!! But if you must know, the answer is Saturday, and it's written on the fridge for your reference, but if you tell Daisy she's wrong, be prepared for her to scream in your face and possibly punch you)
• Asking me questions that don't matter. That don't matter at all. And that I've already answered.
• Arts and crafts explosions 
• Begging to watch YouTube
• Whining about chores that take TEN WHOLE MINUTES (Can you imagine?)
• Complaining about what's for dinner. It doesn't matter if I make their favorite thing on earth, they will hate it on the day I feed it to them
• Tantrums and meltdowns galore. Real life examples from today (i.e. reasons Eva cried): 
• Because I wouldn't go to the Dollar Store to buy her a rubber chicken
• Because her stuffed bunny is pink, and she wants it to be blue
• Because she noticed that the exercise bike is missing (we got rid of it three months ago), and it was her favorite
• Because I sang "Do You Want to Build a Snowman"
• Lectures (from Nicky) about how I spent my day. Not sure why he cares...
• Kicking each other

On top of that, my kids have really stinky feet, so they come home from school, take of their shoes, and stink up my house. Tantrums are much less endurable in a fog of shoe stench. 

So I ask you, professional mothers... does it ever end?

Never mind. Don't answer.