Quiet Confessions, Episode 20 - Meltdowns, Milestones, and K-Pop on Repeat

In this week’s Quiet Confession, Chelsea shares a whirlwind week of parenting their three-year-old—complete with nap strikes, preschool jitters, and a household cold that took almost everyone down. 

From meltdowns soothed only by K-pop on repeat to the bittersweet milestone of watching their last baby walk into preschool, this is a candid look at the messy, exhausting, and surprisingly tender moments of parenting through transition.

Because sometimes, survival looks like tissues, deep breaths, and blasting “Golden” on repeat.

🗝️ Key Takeaways

• Nap transitions are tough on kids and parents.
  
  
• Household colds derail everything—especially in the first week of school.
  
  
• Preschool is a milestone full of excitement, nerves, and “three-nager” energy.
  
  
• Music (even if on repeat!) can be a surprising survival tool.
  
  
• Parenting transitions are universal—messy, exhausting, and survivable.
  
  

💬 Sound Bites

1. “Naps have always been my lifeline—and now? Gone. Just like that. Gone.”
   
   
2. “I’m convinced our house helped keep K-pop Demon Hunters at number one.”
   
   
3. “Watching her walk into that classroom was surreal—anxious, nervous, excited, sad, all at once.”
   
   
4. “Every parent goes through these transition storms. We’re gonna survive. Even if it sucks.”

Transcript

Chelsea Myers (00:46)
Hey, welcome back to another quiet confession. Just you and me hanging out on a Thursday or whatever day you choose to tune in. I'm just thankful you're here. Today, I want to talk about my three-year-old because in the span of one week, seven days, she decided to give up, nap, catch a cold.

and start preschool. And if that sounds like a recipe for chaos, you'd be correct. Ayayay. So as you're listening, this is in the past, but for me, this past week has been a lot. Let's be clear straight out the gate. Naps have always been my lifeline. That pause in the day

when I could eat lunch when it was still warm or fresh or whatever, just good. I could answer emails or catch up on podcasts, logistics without being interrupted or feeling guilty or just sit in the quiet, just the quiet. And now? Gone. Just like that. Gone.

But it's not just my lifeline that disappeared. It's hers too. Her little body isn't ready for the no nap life. By the afternoon, she's a complete disaster. Meltdowns, tears, demands, confusion, total emotional collapse. I am actually convinced that our household has helped keep the K-pop Demon Hunters album at number one because this child only

slightly calms down with soda pop, golden, or take down playing on repeat. I think I can sing those songs in my sleep and I bet there are a lot of you who feel the same way. ⁓ Man, we've tried quiet time. We've tried, okay, let's rest and digest. Sometimes it works. Most days it doesn't. And I'll be totally honest with you. I do

have a rule that she has to stay in her room for at least an hour so that I can catch my breath, maybe catch up on laundry, and she can just rest without the stimulation of everything else going on. But oof, the ripple effect from this sudden and huge shift is hitting the whole house. On top of that,

She caught a cold. And you know how that goes. One sick kid equals one sick household. In this case, my oldest brought it home on her very first day of school. And that bums me out so much. I hate seeing my kids sick, but like the first day of school, are you freaking kidding me? She got off the bus with a sore throat and we knew, we knew where it was headed.

Suddenly, everyone's sniffling, sleep is out the window, and the emotional overwhelm that comes with being three gets dialed up to eleven. Luckily, so far, knock wood, I've been mostly okay, but my husband just got hit with it. Ugh, it's not just the tissues and the totally uncovered coughing on everything and everyone despite saying chicken wing eight million times a day.

It's the crankiness, the mommy my nose can't breathe meltdowns where nothing soothes her. And I'm running on empty because I'm doing absolutely everything I can think of to try to help her. But it honestly feels like nothing seems to work. To make things extra difficult, she's refusing to take her cold medicine. She squirms, closes her mouth.

does pretty much anything she can to get away from either the cup or the spoon or whatever, and it's ultimately spilled all over her. We've resorted to using the Hyland's baby tiny cold tablets. She's in that in-between age where she's too young for most of the chewables, but too old for the baby stuff. But you know what? We're doing whatever it takes to try to get her some relief.

and thankfully she's on the tail end of it at this point.

And then I feel like it's I keep adding another layer and then this happened and then this happened but then there was preschool. It's her first year and I know what you're thinking. No, I did not send her to school sick. I made sure she was through the worst of it before deciding if she'd be missing her first few days or not and thankfully she was doing better at that point. But watching her walk into that classroom

Admittedly, she was putting up a fight the whole way. It was absolutely surreal. I felt anxious, nervous, a little bit excited, a lot sad, all at once. She's ready in a lot of ways, but she's my baby, my last baby. She's never gone to daycare, but

She spent plenty of time with family members and even friends away from her dad and me. But those first day jitters had her showing off all her best three-nager moves. Let's just say that there were a lot of deep breath moments during drop off on both days by all of us. It's a huge milestone and I know it's good for her, but

It's also a transition. Another letting go. Another reminder of how fast life moves, even when the days feel endless. If you're wondering how it went, her only complaint was that she wanted a smaller backpack. I get it, kid. The struggle is real. Those backpacks, they just were not made for your little bodies. Beyond that, though, it sounds like she loved it.

and yes, she did insist on being called Rumi while belting out Golden on the playground like it was center stage at Wembley. She informed me that next week she will be teaching her new friends the words to take down, so if any parents are listening, Avery did that, you're welcome. So yeah, no naps, colds, and preschool all in one week.

It's been a lot. But I know I'm not alone. Every parent goes through these transition storms. And if you're in one right now too, I see you. We're gonna survive. We always do, even if it sucks.

But I will see you next week and you know the drill. Do something nice for yourself today. Something big, something small, something in between, whatever it is, just make sure you find your glimmer. I'll see you next week.