Madlyn Primoff lived the dream. She's the 45- year- old mother from Scarsdale who kicked her 10 and 12- year- old daughters out of the car for fighting. Now, as a result of living the dream, Primoff is living a nightmare.

For the incident, this frustrated mom was arrested and separated from her kids, and she gets to go to court later this month. Meanwhile, her girls got off scot- free. The 12- year- old ditched her sister and caught up to Primoff. The 10- year- old got an ice cream for her troubles. A "Good Samaritan" found the distressed little girl on the street after the incident and bought her the treat.

This mom may be the worst mother on earth or maybe she's just a good mom who had a bad day. Only she and her kids know the truth. I'm not familiar with the neighborhood she dumped her kids in, and I don't know how bad her daughters were fighting, but I do know that my own three children have pushed me to the brink of living Ms. Primoff's dream more than once.

If only we could kick our kids out of the car knowing they'd be safe. If only we could kick them out and the "Good Samaritans" would give us the ice cream and tell the kids to keep walking. But the world doesn't work that way anymore. It used to, but that was a long time ago when kids were named Opie and Beaver.

Now we've got psychologists on television giving advice to educate parents like Primoff. They say it's a kid's job to test parents and be demanding. Funny, I thought those were the parents' jobs. Those things come naturally to children, and being testy and demanding certainly isn't work for them.

Today, psychologists say parents should take a time- out for themselves before they do something rash. "Take five slow deep breaths until you feel calm," they say. Well, that's the same exact thing the nurses told my wife to do during childbirth, "Just take calming deep breaths, Mrs. Maddock. Close your eyes and think of a happy place."

Well, it didn't work then, and it ain't working now. Trying to stay calm and rational with children 24/7 is physically impossible. It's like meditating through a riot. It may have worked for Gandhi against the Brits, but I doubt it worked when he was toting his four boys through India. "Don't make me turn this rickshaw around, Boys!"

I love my children dearly, but they're children. It doesn't really matter to them if I'm late to work or what kind of day I've had. During a typical morning ride to school, my oldest daughter's biggest concern is making sure her little sister didn't steal her book or walk into her room without permission.

My youngest daughter's worries revolve around her desire to have her little brother keep his hands to himself, and my son, oh my son! He just wants to toss paper airplanes into his oldest sister's ear and wrestle with the middle one. The fights that follow are just a normal part of their day. So what if the ol' man is constantly caught in the crossfire? He can handle it…right? Just breath…breath…breath.

While I'm busy breathing, my son successfully lands his newest airplane in his oldest sister's ear. Without hesitation she responds by blaming her little sister and tosses a book at her. The poor middle child screams at both her siblings with the furor of a guest on the Jerry Springer Show, and the cycle begins.

I don't know Madlyn Primoff or her situation, but I can certainly feel her pain. Can't you?