I am pretty sure that, until my third child was born, I didn’t fully understand the challenges parenting can present — challenges that have nothing to do with the number of kids I have but with the personality of this strong-willed child.

I would have said parenting is hard — physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. But I usually got my kids to do what I wanted them to do with little resistance. When I heard someone talk about how nothing was working with their child, I blew it off thinking that they just needed a new strategy or more consistent consequences.

Then Levi became a toddler and my thoughts on parenting have never been the same.

If you have a strong-willed child, you know what I am talking about. If you are not sure you have a strong-willed child, you probably don’t. Trust me, you know if you have one.

This boy has single-handedly humbled me more as a parent than anything else ever has. He pushed me far passed my limits, and still does almost every day.

I have a passion for talking about parenting strong-willed kids because it is so different from parenting my other kids. I want moms of strong-willed kids to be encouraged and know they are not alone.

I have struggled to write on this topic because I want to be careful about how I represent Levi. It may be my parenting story, but it is his story as well. That being said, it is an important story to tell so I will do my best to find a balance.

I plan to write more about my experience parenting a strong-willed child, but in the meantime, I want everyone out there to know you are not alone. Even if it doesn’t get easier, it will all be worth it, because these strong-willed kids of ours are going to change the world around them someday. They will have the tenacity and commitment to do amazing things.