• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

No worries, Kate. I’ve been there, too.

June 7, 2022
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Anyone who’s ever parented a 4-year-old knows that moment. You’re in line at the grocery store or sitting in a pew at church or attending your husband’s grandmother’s platinum jubilee when your child starts acting out.

Maybe she’s tired. Maybe he’s hungry. Maybe she’s just been sitting still for too long. Maybe he never wanted to wear these shoes this morning—or he insisted on wearing them, but now they’re the wrong ones, and he’s not happy. And he’s going to make sure you know just how miserable he is.

Maybe there’s absolutely no reason at all, except that your child is a child, and the day is asking more of them than they’re able to give. We’ve all been there, Kate. We’ve all been the parent who’s struggling to parent with grace under pressure—in the public eye.

In your case, it felt as if the world was watching, and, in fact, we were—and we enjoyed it more than you probably know. Because anyone who has raised a 4-year-old knows what that’s like. Children can be sweet and dear and charming and polite. They can also be stubborn and opinionated and clear in expressing their emotions, especially when they’re safely around people they love.

Watching Louis give you the royal 4-year-old treatment made me smile. Because I know you can’t parent that age without having some of those experiences. And the ones you remember best just might be the ones that happen in public, the ones where you feel the eyes of the world on you, judging your parenting skills, weighing in on your child’s personality traits.

But you’re doing just fine. Louis is rocking this 4-year-old thing. And no one can criticize your parenting style.

When you think of the love of a parent, you might picture a mother or father holding a quiet, sleeping baby or bouncing a smiling toddler on their lap. But love is often a test of patience, a test of understanding. And that form of love is the love that our Father in heaven gives to us. We know how we should interact with others, and God gives us all we need. But we still act out in a thousand ways a day, separating ourselves from Him, while He continues to reach out to embrace and surround us with His love.

Deep down, each of us is 4-year-old Louis, wanting to wriggle out of our seat and run off to the nearest playground. And God is the parent who lets us fuss and argue with Him while giving us only love and grace.

Copyright © 2022 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

In June, let your garden honor the hearts of Jesus and Mary

Question Corner: Must I make my confession at the altar, as my pastor asks?

The Beauty of Mass in the Gym

Exquisite pizza, the school year winding down, and a shopping day (7 Quick Takes)

In honoring anti-Catholic activists, L.A. Dodgers strike out

| Recent Local News |

Bishop Victor Galeone, former Archdiocese of Baltimore priest and bishop of St. Augustine, dies at 87

Assault outside Planned Parenthood office leaves pregnancy center employees shaken

RADIO INTERVIEW: The Prosperity Gospel

CEO, authors, NFL coach take part in Catholic college commencements

Connect program centered on empathy, listening

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Movie Review: ‘Padre Pio’
  • Meet the new priests to be ordained in 2023
  • Archbishop: Months leading to synod are times for faithful to live response to divine grace ‘more intensely’
  • Numbers of Irish Catholics are falling rapidly; only half of Dublin residents say they’re Catholic
  • In June, let your garden honor the hearts of Jesus and Mary
  • Nationals pitcher, Dodgers players join chorus criticizing LA team for plan to honor ‘Sisters’ drag group
  • A host of sacramental statistics: Vatican tracks practice of the faith
  • Bishop Victor Galeone, former Archdiocese of Baltimore priest and bishop of St. Augustine, dies at 87
  • Videogame Review: ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED