Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Parent Of The Year


Nay! Parent of the decade! Of the century!!!!

Good grief. Talk about keeping up with the Joneses. 

I find the paradigm shift of ultimate parenting to be nauseating. It creates tapped out parents. Tapped out mentally, physically and financially. 

Of course if you have the financial means and time, let your son or daughter play hockey. 

If being a hockey player is your child's dream and it just takes sacrificing the super duper cable package and the annual trip to Disney world. Go for it. 

If you're in financial distress and you're working a couple jobs. No. Sorry. Bad idea. There are cheaper sports and family activities that will have to do.


Maybe your kids don't need a huge range of after school activities, regardless of what their peers are doing.

If its Saturday morning and you just don't feel like making pancakes and sausages PLUS the dishes that go along with it. Then don't. Oatmeal or cereal and a piece of fruit is perfectly acceptable. 

Large dirty dishes just don't belong in the morning-time. And if you're like me they will be staring you in the face all day! Unless you have a guaranteed dishwasher. I ask John to make his delicious pancakes and I will offer to do the dishes. 

Taking your kid and a friend bowling for their 6th birthday, despite their wishes for a big party with all their friends, is (in retrospect) completely fine. 

Tapped out parents can't be fun to be around. 

So let the laundry go for a day. 
Make the kids do the dishes. 
Have some relaxed time with the family.
Don't worry so much about having them in piano AND ballet.
Don't go into debt for an expensive sport.
Go to the park.
Buy a soccer ball/baseball glove/football. 
Bake some cookies together.

The most important: Don't let anyone make you feel like you're not doing enough.

There are no perfect parents because there are no perfect people. Some people manage to do it all. It's most impressive but it's not usually realistic. These people are likely type A personalities. 

I am definitely not a type A personality.