1. Though it may seem like a good idea at first, powering off your cell phone so your toddler can play with it is actually a bad idea… a powered off cell phone doesn’t ring when you are trying to locate it.

2. Sometimes it is best to compromise with your 4-year-old. Wearing shorts with your socks pulled up to your knees is just like wearing pants. Right?

3. Nothing is ever pleasant at 4:41 a.m.

4. Sometimes the best medicine is a good hug from mom. Especially if your older brother tackled you at the football game, in the rain, in the mud. (Of course, this would be when you wanted to hug your mother.)

5. Always bring a snack. This could be the difference between abject humiliation and total serenity when trying to conduct errands.

6. Make sure you park far enough away from your salon when you allow your son to play with the car keys while you get your eyebrows waxed. Otherwise, when you come back to the parking lot, all the doors are open, including the liftgate, and the wind has blown most of the items occupying your vehicle into the open field next door.

7. Don’t take your kids with you to the salon to get your eyebrows waxed.

8. Try not to ask your kids to hold it. This will always end badly.

9. Just laugh. This is so much better than any of the alternatives.