Team Ewert: How our family is like a team

She wouldn’t stop crying. We have been attempting to “sleep train” Audrey but with two other children and a small home it is making for a very difficult task. I laid her in her crib and let her cry. Not for too long, but long enough. I played music, sang to her, stroked her hair. She wouldn’t stop crying. Jakob hushed her. He sat with Ella, who shares a room and coaxed her gently to go to sleep. Ella sang along with the music as she has heard the songs over and over again since before Audrey was even born. Together, the three of us, tried to bring on sleep.

When my husband is out at night, which is often being a musician, in flurries of frustration, I will often say, “We have to be a team!” or upon return after a successful outing (like attempting to take all 3 kids, solo to hockey practice or the Christmas tree lighting outside city hall) I will say, “Good job, team! We did it!” I suppose some might say that it is a big responsibility for an eight-year-old or a six-year-old to be on a team but families are teams.

On a team, you respect your teammates. You work together to achieve goals. And while there is a coach, he or she is respectful of the players and knows their abilities, always pushing them to be better but being sensitive to their temperaments. I was proud of my team last night. They pulled together and even though, Audrey-the-beast won and I ended up nursing her to sleep it helped me understand more where my team is at: not in a place to handle sleep training.