Parent's Fault

It's our fault that they threw tantrums. They were too tired. We went to a friend's house and stayed too late, though all of us could have stayed much longer. We didn't realize how tired we were until it was time to confront the first restraining experience of the night: getting buckled into the car seat. Things were up and down from there. We barely survived bath time and getting the kids ready for bed. We divided and conquered for that. I was lucky that I got the baby. She was in a surprisingly good mood after bath. We played a little, read a book, then went to bed. The older two, however, were fighting. Under normal conditions, my wife and I probably would have lost patience, but we knew the blame was with us. They eventually calmed down and went to bed happy. All in all, the extra time with friends was well spent, but the night went off successfully because we looked at the tears, saw the pushing, heard the screaming, and remembered they were just too tired to be rational, and we were to blame.